The Biology Project > Biochemistry > The Chemistry of Amino Acids
Aliphatic Amino Acids
Aliphatic R groups are nonpolar and hydrophobic. Hydrophobicity increases with increasing number of C atoms in the hydrocarbon chain. Although these amino acids prefer to remain inside protein molecules, alanine and glycine are ambivalent, meaning that they can be inside or outside the protein molecule. Glycine has such a small side chain that it does not have much effect on the hydrophobic interactions.
The structures below are shown in the ionization state that predominates at pH 7.
Less hydrophobic More hydrophobic
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