The building blocks of proteins are amino acids, which are small organic molecules that consist of an alpha (central) carbon atom linked to an amino group, a carboxyl group, a hydrogen atom ...

Amino acids are characterized by their central carbon atom, known as the α-carbon, which is bonded to an amino group (-NH2), a carboxyl group (-COOH), a hydrogen atom, and a variable side chain ...

Thus, when a reagent reacts specifically with a particular group to produce a derivative which has significantly different electrophilic characteristics, a corresponding change in the spectrum is ...