The structure of the amino acid lysine (in its uncharged form) is shown below.
b. Is lysine likely to be water-soluble? Explain.

Question

The structure of the amino acid lysine (in its uncharged form) is shown below.

Structure of the amino acid lysine in its uncharged form, showing functional groups and molecular connections.

b. Is lysine likely to be water-soluble? Explain.

Accepted Answer

Hello everyone. Today we have a fond problem shown below is the structure of the amino acid asparagine in its uncharged form. Predict whether asparagine is soluble or in soluble in water. Explain your answer. So we have A and B saying that asparagine is soluble in water. But A saying because it can form hydrogen bonds with water. And B saying because both with water and asparagine and nonpolar and C and D saying that it asparagine is insoluble in water. But c saying because it can only asparagine can only exhibit London aspi forces while water can exhibit hydrogen bonding. And D saying that asparagine can only exhibit di di forces while water can exhibit hydrogen bonding. So remember or recall the principle that like dissolves like and what this means is that molecules with similar polarities can dissolve or are admissible to each other. So let's take for example, our solvent which is water, which has the following chemical structure. Oxygen is more electron than hydrogen. So if we were to draw the polarity or the dipole dipole arrows, we would draw the arrow pointing towards the oxygen to showcase that our oxygen is more electron than the hydrogens. And so because of this particular special property, we say that this is an example of hydrogen bonding and hydrogen bonding can be, can exist with hydrogen nitrogen bonds and hydrogen fluorine bonds. However, we're just focused on the oxygen. So if we look at our water and then we look at our spa gene, we see that a spa gene has these hydrogen bonds as well as polar bonds or dipole dipole. And so what this means is that asparagine can also form hydrogen bonds. And as stated earlier, like dissolves like and since both water and asparagine can form hydrogen bonds, that will be the reason why they will be soluble in one another. So if you later answer choices, we see the answer choice a best reflects this asparagine is soluble in water because asparagine can form hydrogen bonds with water. And with that, we have solved the problem overall, I hope is helped. And until next time.

The structure of the amino acid lysine (in its uncharged form) is shown below.

b. Is lysine likely to be water-soluble? Explain.

Verified video answer for a similar problem:

Key Concepts

Amino Acid Structure

Polarity and Solubility

Hydrophilic vs. Hydrophobic

The structure of the amino acid lysine (in its uncharged form) is shown below.b. Is lysine likely to be water-soluble? Explain.