Amino Acids - 101

Below is a picture of the amino acid drawing I learned in biochem a few years ago.  By using this method, and repeating the drawing until I could do from memory, biochem became easy.

Notice the purple outline indicates what changed between the molecules.  For the most part after Leucine, CH2 is a part of every amino acid so the backbone becomes the one with the CH2.

PLEASE NOTE: As of 8/23/15, this HAS been updated for the extra CH2 off the backbone.

If you're wondering WHY draw?  From the best biochem professor ever:

One other site to check out:

http://www.biology.arizona.edu/biochemistry/problem_sets/aa/aa.html