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Q.
An amino acid that has a single hydrogen atom as its side chain is ________ in nature.
NTA AbhyasNTA Abhyas 2020Biomolecules
Solution:
Amino acids are substituted methanes as these consist of four bonds. These are carboxyl group, amino group, hydrogen and variable R group. Since the carbon in amino acids have four different bonds, it is considered as chiral carbon and such amino acids are optically active. Optically active compounds can rotate the plane-polarized light. Glycine amino acid is optically inactive as it does not show chiral carbon because in glycine variable R is H. Glycine is also termed as neutral amino acid as it has one acidic and one amino group. This amino acid is commonly found in proteins and hence is termed as proteinogenic.