Amino acid zwitterionic form

Amino acid zwitterions are internal salts and therefore have many of the physical properties associated with salts. They have large dipole moments, are soluble in water but insoluble in hydrocarbons, and are crystalline substances with relatively high melting points. In addition, amino acids are amphiprotic they can react either as acids or as bases, depending on the circumstances. In aqueous acid solution, an amino acid zwitterion is a base that accepts a proton to yield a cation in aqueous base solution, the zwitterion is an add that loses a proton to form an anion. Note that it is the carboxylate, -C02-, that acts as the basic site and accepts a proton in acid solution, and it is the ammonium cation, -NH3+, that acts as the acidic site and donates a proton in base solution. 

When derivatives of amino acids are formed, their zwitterionic character is destroyed, a process which requires the supply of energy. We shall first discuss chemical activation, as it is important for the understanding of hypotheses dealing with prebiotic protein formation. In the case of amino acids which are activated at the carbonyl group, the amino group remains unsubstituted. The derivatives are able to react with nucleophilic residues (Y) ... 

Internal water molecules tend to form clusters. In general, internal water molecules in protein structures are not found isolated but are assembled in clusters. Their hydrogen-bonding scheme could be derived in actinidin (Fig. 19.13), in lysozyme, and in penicillopepsin, based oh the assumption that water molecules act as double donors and acceptors. In some of the protein structures, which have been analyzed in greater detail, an internal water is associated with three acceptor sites indicating three-center bonding as observed in the amino acid zwitterion crystal structures (see Part IB, Chap. 8). 

In contrast, Nagy pointed out [13] that the zwitterionic P-alanine ( H3N-CH2-CH2-C00 ), which forms an intramolecular hydrogen bond in its favorable NCCC gauche conformation in aqueous solution (note the difference with GABA upon one less CH2 group in the linker), transforms to the intramolecularly hydrogen-bonded neutral species in chloroform with an anti -COOH group. This is an important consequence of the solvent effect on the amino acid tautomeric forms in different media. 

Zaitsevs rule (Section 5 10) When two or more alkenes are capable of being formed by an elimination reaction the one with the more highly substituted double bond (the more sta ble alkene) is the major product Zwitterion (Section 27 3) The form in which neutral amino acids actually exist The ammo group is in its protonated form and the carboxyl group is present as a carboxylate... 

Azolecarboxylic acids can be quite strongly acidic. Thus l,2,5-thiadiazole-3,4-dicar-boxylic acid has first and second values of 1.6 and 4.1, respectively <68AHC(9)107). The acidic strengths of the oxazolecarboxylic acids are in the order 2>5>4, in agreement with the electron distribution within the oxazole ring <74AHC( 17)99). Azolecarboxylic acids are amino acids and can exist partly in the zwitterionic, or betaine, form e.g. 394). 

Isoelectric point (Section 27.3) pH at which the concentration of the zwitterionic form of an amino acid is a maximum. At a pH below the isoelectric point the dominant species is a cation. At higher pH, an anion predominates. At the isoelectric point the amino acid has no net charge. 

Zwitterion (Section 27.3) The form in which neutral amino acids actually exist. The amino group is in its protonated form and the carboxyl group is present as a carboxylate... 

FIGURE 4.6 The ionic forms of the amino acids, shown without consideration of any ionizations on the side chain. The cationic form is the low pH form, and the titration of the cationic species with base yields the zwitterion and finally the anionic form. (Irving Geis)... 

Interestingly, alanine and other amino acids exist primarily in a doubly charged form called a zwitterion rather than in the uncharged form. The zwit-terion form arises because amino acids have both acidic and basic sites within the same molecule and therefore undergo an internal acid-base reaction. 

We saw in Sections 20.3 and 24.5 that a carboxyl group is deprotonated and exists as the carboxylate anion at a physiological pH of 7.3, while an amino group is protonated and exists as the ammonium cation. Thus, amino acids exist in aqueous solution primarily in the form of a dipolar ion, or zwitterion (German zwitter, meaning "hybrid"). 

Zero order reaction A reaction whose rate is independent of reactant concentration, 289,295-298, 317q Zinc, 86-87,550 Zn-Cn2+ voltaic cell, 481-485 Zwitterion Form of an amino acid in which there is a separation of charge between the nitrogen atom of the NH2 group (+) and one of the oxygen atoms of the COOH group (—), 623-624... 

C17-0120. In aqueous solution, amino acids exist as zwitterions (German for double ions ), compounds in which internal proton transfer gives a molecule with two charged functional groups. Use Lewis structures to illustrate the proton transfer equilibrium between the uncharged form of glycine (NH2 CH2 CO2 H) and its zwitterion form. 

In polar solvents, the structure of the acridine 13 involves some zwitterionic character 13 a [Eq. (7)] and the interior of the cleft becomes an intensely polar microenvironment. On the periphery of the molecule a heavy lipophilic coating is provided by the hydrocarbon skeleton and methyl groups. A third domain, the large, flat aromatic surface is exposed by the acridine spacer unit. This unusual combination of ionic, hydrophobic and stacking opportunities endows these molecules with the ability to interact with the zwitterionic forms of amino acids which exist at neutral pH 24). For example, the acridine diacids can extract zwitterionic phenylalanine from water into chloroform, andNMR evidence indicates the formation of 2 1 complexes 39 such as were previously described for other P-phenyl-ethylammonium salts. Similar behavior is seen with tryptophan 40 and tyrosine methyl ether 41. The structures lacking well-placed aromatics such as leucine or methionine are not extracted to measureable degrees under these conditions. 

Since the inception of our work Jere, Miller and Jackson have published kinetic and stereochemical data on the hydrogenation of alanine (19). Important in their analysis is the observation that amino acids must be in their protonated form to undergo facile hydrogenation since reduction of carboxylate anions is significantly more endothermic than protonated acids (19). Control of pH is important for two reasons at neutral pH amino acids exist as zwitterions and the resultant hydrogenation products are basic. For these reasons a full equivalent of phosphoric acid (or similar acid) is required to obtain high yields. 

Some amphoteric softeners such as amino acids (10.237) and sulphobetaines (10.238) are more effective and durable than the nonionic types but less durable than the cationics moreover, they tend to be expensive. Other amphoteric types include the zwitterionic forms of quaternised imidazolines (10.239) long-chain amine oxides (10.240) also exhibit softening properties. 

Polytopic macrocyclic receptors 1, 2 (Figure 10.1) are able to complex the zwitterionic form of the amino acids by a double non-covalent charge interaction [28,29]. The unsymmetrical benzocrown sulfonamide derivative, 2 which contains benzo-18-crown-6 and benzo-15-crown-5 moieties was used as a ditopic receptor for multiple molecular recognition of the amino acids, by combining two non-covalent interactions ammonium-crown hydrogen bonding and carboxylate- complexed Na+-benzo-15-crown-5 charge interactions [28,33]. 

Typical examples are the conversion of the neutral form of an amino acid into its zwitterionic form, the helix-coil transitions in polypeptides and polynucleotides, and other conformational changes in biopolymers. Reactions of higher molecularity in which reactants and products have different dipole moments are subject to the same effect (association of the carboxylic acids to form hydrogen-bonded dimers). Equilibrium involving ions are often more sensitive to the application of an electric field ... 

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