Organic chemistry: Amino acids made easy

Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. There are 22 different amino acids and they can combine in a myriad ways to form a vast array of proteins. All amino acids except glycine are chiral molecules, meaning they exist in two mirror-image, or enantiomeric, forms—only one of which is naturally occurring. These unnatural enantiomers of amino acids are in great demand by the pharmaceutical industry as the raw materials for the production of a variety of drugs, including the antibiotic amoxycillin and the anti-nausea drug aprepitant (see image).

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