Answer to Question #221745 in Organic Chemistry for Mahjabin

Question

Alanine, 2- aminopropanoic avid,is an amino acid found in many protein its is Chiral. Draw the structures of two optical isomers of alanine. Write the name of the carbonyl compound from which you may prepare this amino acid with necessary chemical equation and explanation

Answer 1

Alanine can be synthesized from pyruvate and branched chain amino acids such as valine, leucine, and isoleucine. Alanine is produced by reductive amination of pyruvate, a two-step process. In the first step, α-ketoglutarate, ammonia and NADH are converted by glutamate dehydrogenase to glutamate, NAD⁺ and water.

The preparation of alanine from propionic acid, first by bromination via the Hell–Volhard–Zelinsky halogenation to form 2-bromopropanoic acid and then ammonolysis to the racemate of the amino acid.