Amino acid

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The general structure of an α-amino acid, with the amino group on the left and the carboxyl group on the right.

The two optical isomers of alanine.

In biology and biochemistry, Amino acids are seen as the building blocks of proteins. There are 20 standard amino acids that almost all proteins are made out of. Some amino acids are glycine, alanine, and tryptophan. In chemistry, an amino acid can refer to any molecule that contains both amine and carboxyl functional groups. In biochemistry, this term refers to alpha-amino acids with the general formula H₂NCHRCOOH.

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