1] Nomenclature and symbolism of α-amino acids

Abstract

This chapter describes the nomenclature and symbolism of α-amino acids. The nomenclature used for α-amino acids in any biochemical context, from proteins to metabolism to bacterial cell walls to antibiotics and hormones, utilizes almost exclusively the trivial names that are common in the pre-molecular-biology days, when the composition of proteins dominated biochemical research. The Commission on Biochemical Nomenclature (CBN), created by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and the International Union of Biochemistry undertook the task of codifying abbreviations and symbols for chemical names of special interest in biological chemistry. The section on polypeptides and proteins was based on those traditional trivial names, which had been formally approved by the IUPAC Commission on the Nomenclature of Organic Chemistry in 1949, and the symbols derived from them in 1947 by Brand and Edsall. The only changes included to change Try to Trp, to prevent error by accidental inversion, Nval to Nvl, Ileu to Ile, CySH to Cys, Glu-NH2 and Asp-NH2 to Gln and Asn, and Hypro and Hylys to Hyp and Hyl. The three-letter system was considered, so that sequences could be aligned for comparison.