Proteins, Amino Acids, Condensation and Hydrolysis Reactions.

Proteins

Proteins are substances whose molecules are made of many amino acids linked together in long chains. All amino acids have a central carbon atom, carbon atoms have four bonds which can hold them firmly to other atoms.

In an amino acid, the central carbon forms one bond with a carboxyl group, -COOH. There is another bond with a hydrogen atom, and a third bond with an amino group -NH2. The fourth bond, however, can be with any one of a whole range of different groups. The letter R is used to show this group. In animals there about twenty different amino acids, each with a different R group. The amino acids that make up a…