| Glutamic acid is an amino acid containing an extra carboxylic acid group. It may also be described as 2-aminopentanedioic acid.
Like all amino acids, it has an amino group (-NH2) - blue with 2 white balls - at one end, and a carboxylic acid group (-COOH) - grey, connected to red, and red and white - at the other end. These groups are used to link onto other amino acids by peptide bonds. Between these is the a- (alpha) carbon to which the 'R' group is attached. Its 'R' group is -(CH2)2-COOH, an ethyl group with another carboxylic acid group (-COOH) attached - grey, with red and red and white - at the other end of the molecule.
Other informationGlutamic acid has an extra carboxylic acid group on its R group, so it has extra acidic characteristics. The acid group can ionise and interact with other R groups within a polypeptide chain.The sodium salt of glutamic acid is called monosodium glutamate (MSG). It is well known in chinese cookery and as a flavour enhancer in snack foods. In digestion, glutamic acid is produced "naturally" when many proteins are hydrolysed. The monosodium part of the name refers to the fact that only one of the carboxylic acids (the one described here as bonding acid) is ionised and a sodium ion (Na+) is also present. You can move this molecule in 3 dimensions by holding down the left button and dragging using the mouse. If you have a central mouse wheel you can usually zoom the image in/out. Right clicking gives a variety of display options. Simply leaving the mouse pointer over one of the atoms will give information about it; the atom symbol, and some other less useful numerical information. |
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