Leucines Explained

The leucines are primarily the four isomeric amino acids: leucine, isoleucine, tert-leucine (terleucine, pseudoleucine) and norleucine.^[1] Being compared with the four butanols, they could be classified as butyl-substituted glycines; they represent all four possible variations.

Leucine and isoleucine belong to the proteinogenic amino acids; the others are non-natural.

Isomers

Including the stereoisomers, six further isomers could be added: D-leucine, D-isoleucine, L-alloisoleucine, D-alloisoleucine, D-tert-leucine and D-norleucine.

Leucines
Name			L-tert-Leucine (terleucine, pseudoleucine)	L-Norleucine
Other names	2-Amino-4-methylpentanoic acid, Isobutylglycine	2-Amino-3-methylpentanoic acid, sec-Butylglycine	2-Amino-3,3-dimethylbutanoic acid, tert-Butylglycine	2-Amino-hexanoic acid, n-Butylglycine
Structure
CAS-number	61-90-5	73-32-5	20859-02-3	327-57-1
PubChem
Molecular formula	C6H13NO2
Molar mass	131.18 g/mol

Derivatives

Cycloleucine could be classified as a cyclic derivative of norleucine. With a cyclopentane-ring, it has two hydrogen atoms fewer and thus is not an isomer. The α-carbon atom is not a stereocenter.

See also

• L-Photo-Leucine

Literature

• Jeremy M. Berg, John L. Tymoczko, Lubert Stryer: Biochemie. 6 Auflage, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg 2007. .
• Donald Voet, Judith G. Voet: Biochemistry. 3. Auflage, John Wiley & Sons, New York 2004. .
• Bruce Alberts, Alexander Johnson, Peter Walter, Julian Lewis, Martin Raff, Keith Roberts: Molecular Biology of the Cell, 5. Auflage, Taylor & Francis 2007, .

Notes and References

1. Zaremska . Valeriia . Tan . Jiajun . Lim . Sierin . Knoll . Wolfgang . Pelosi . Paolo . 2020-07-17 . Isoleucine Residues Determine Chiral Discrimination of Odorant‐Binding Protein . Chemistry – A European Journal . en . 26 . 40 . 8720–8724 . 10.1002/chem.202000872 . 0947-6539.