organic chemistry Organic chemistry is a subdiscipline within chemistry involving the science, scientific study of the structure, properties, and reactions of organic compounds and organic matter, organic materials, i.e., matter in its various forms that contain ...

, secondary amino acids are

amino acid Amino acids are organic compounds that contain both amino and carboxylic acid functional groups. Although over 500 amino acids exist in nature, by far the most important are the 22 α-amino acids incorporated into proteins. Only these 22 a ...

s which do not contain the

amino group In chemistry, amines (, ) are organic compounds that contain carbon-nitrogen bonds. Amines are formed when one or more hydrogen atoms in ammonia are replaced by alkyl or aryl groups. The nitrogen atom in an amine possesses a lone pair of elec ...

but is rather a

secondary amine In chemistry, amines (, ) are organic compounds that contain carbon-nitrogen bonds. Amines are formed when one or more hydrogen atoms in ammonia are replaced by alkyl or aryl groups. The nitrogen atom in an amine possesses a lone pair of elec ...

(). Secondary amino acids can be classified to cyclic acids, such as

proline Proline (symbol Pro or P) is an organic acid classed as a proteinogenic amino acid (used in the biosynthesis of proteins), although it does not contain the amino group but is rather a secondary amine. The secondary amine nitrogen is in the p ...

, and acyclic N-substituted amino acids. In nature, proline,

hydroxyproline (2''S'',4''R'')-4-Hydroxyproline, or L-hydroxyproline ( C5 H9 O3 N), is an amino acid, abbreviated as Hyp or O, ''e.g.'', in Protein Data Bank. Structure and discovery In 1902, Hermann Emil Fischer isolated hydroxyproline from hydrolyzed gela ...

, pipecolic acid and

sarcosine Sarcosine, also known as ''N''-methylglycine, or monomethylglycine, is a amino acid with the formula CH3N(H)CH2CO2H. It exists at neutral pH as the zwitterion CH3N+(H)2CH2CO2−, which can be obtained as a white, water-soluble powder. Like some ...

are well-known secondary amino acids. Proline is the only

proteinogenic Proteinogenic amino acids are amino acids that are incorporated biosynthetically into proteins during translation from RNA. The word "proteinogenic" means "protein creating". Throughout known life, there are 22 genetically encoded (proteinogenic) ...

secondary amino acids. Other secondary amino acids are

non-proteinogenic amino acids In biochemistry, non-coded or non-proteinogenic amino acids are distinct from the 22 proteinogenic amino acids (21 in eukaryotesplus formylmethionine in eukaryotes with prokaryote organelles like mitochondria), which are naturally encoded in the ...

. In protein, hydroxyproline is incorporated into protein by hydroxylation of proline. Pipecolic acid, a heavier analog of proline, is found in efrapeptin. Sarcosine is a N-methylized glycine so its

methyl group In organic chemistry, a methyl group is an alkyl derived from methane, containing one carbon atom bonded to three hydrogen atoms, having chemical formula (whereas normal methane has the formula ). In formulas, the group is often abbreviated a ...

is used in many biochemical reactions. Azetidine-2-carboxylic acid, which is a smaller homolog of proline in plants.

Properties

Proline and its higher homolog pipecolic acid affect the

secondary structure Protein secondary structure is the local spatial conformation of the polypeptide backbone excluding the side chains. The two most common Protein structure#Secondary structure, secondary structural elements are alpha helix, alpha helices and beta ...

of protein. D-alpha-amino acid - L-alpha-amino acid sequence can induce

beta hairpin The beta hairpin (sometimes also called beta-ribbon or beta-beta unit) is a simple protein structural motif involving two beta strands that look like a Hairpin (fashion), hairpin. The motif consists of two strands that are adjacent in primary stru ...

. It suggested that acyclic secondary amino acids are more flexible than cyclic secondary amino acids in protein by replacement of pipecolic acid by ''N''-methyl-L-alanine in efrapeptin C. Ninhydrin tests of proline and hydroxyproline give yellow results. In

enzymology An enzyme () is a protein that acts as a biological catalyst by accelerating chemical reactions. The molecules upon which enzymes may act are called substrate (chemistry), substrates, and the enzyme converts the substrates into different mol ...

, a N-methyl-L-amino-acid oxidase is an oxidase of a subtype of secondary amino acids.

References

External links

{{Amino acids Amino acids *

Properties

See also

References

External links