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Posted

Hi forum,

 

I have ,probably, a very simple question for you lot to answer but i can't find an explanation i understand well enough on the net.

 

I've just started biology at college and i'm writing about amino acids. Through research in my "Life" book i see that they have two functional groups, one being animo.

 

Then looking online i see lots of sites talking about amines, which seem to also be NH with the no of H dependant on if they are primary or secondary etc. ?

 

I'm confused with the difference between amines and amino groups. Could someone please explain this to me.

 

Thanks alot.

Posted

An amine is a a variation on NH3, where each H could possibly be represented by some R and is most often seen as NH2R, NHR2 or NR3 in generic form

 

An amino acid is a long carbon carbon chain that has an amine on it it to replace an H

Posted (edited)

As defined by wikipedia, "Anime is commonly defined as animation originating in Japan." Anime generally utilizes a specific style of drawing, which is poked fun at in this bit of internet pop culture: http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail57.html. Many examples of actual anime cartoons with which to satisfy your curiosity are available online, through a simple google search. :P

 

An amine refers to some derivative of ammonia and takes into account the entire structure. For example, it would be possible to call the amino acid glycine "carboxymethylamine." You treat the basic structure of the molecule as being an ammonia derivative and list the "added" carboxymethyl substituent.

 

When speaking of a part of a molecule (referred to as a moiety), the term amino is used instead. Using the same example, you could call glycine aminoacetic acid. When using this naming convention, the base structure is the acetic acid skeleton and the amino group is the "added" part.

 

This wikipedia excerpt should clear up up confusion: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Functional_group#Groups_containing_nitrogen

 

As for more examples, you could rename trimethylamine as N,N-dimethylaminomethane. Your confusion is largely just a nomenclature issue.

Edited by UC
Posted

As defined by wikipedia, "Anime is commonly defined as animation originating in Japan." Anime generally utilizes a specific style of drawing, which is poked fun at in this bit of internet pop culture: http://www.homestarr...sbemail57.html. Many examples of actual anime cartoons with which to satisfy your curiosity are available online, through a simple google search. :P

 

An amine refers to some derivative of ammonia and takes into account the entire structure. For example, it would be possible to call the amino acid glycine "carboxymethylamine." You treat the basic structure of the molecule as being an ammonia derivative and list the "added" carboxymethyl substituent.

 

When speaking of a part of a molecule (referred to as a moiety), the term amino is used instead. Using the same example, you could call glycine aminoacetic acid. When using this naming convention, the base structure is the acetic acid skeleton and the amino group is the "added" part.

 

This wikipedia excerpt should clear up up confusion: http://en.wikipedia....aining_nitrogen

 

As for more examples, you could rename trimethylamine as N,N-dimethylaminomethane. Your confusion is largely just a nomenclature issue.

 

 

Ah all makes sense now! Thanks alot for taking the time to explain that.

 

Haha you wouldn't believe how many times i've typo'd amine through this assignment.

 

 

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