Why are amino acids called acids if they have an acidic end and an alkaline end?

Question

Why are amino acids called acids if they have an acidic end and an alkaline end?

In: Chemistry

Answer 1

Alkaline is a catch-all term. Amino acids do not just have “an” alkaline end – they have specifically the -NH2 alkaline end. This -NH2 end is called “aminyl”, and the compounds that have it are called “amines”.

So they are literally “alkaline acids”, except instead of catch-all “alkaline” there is a more specific term for a specific kind of alkaline.

Of course, we could also call them “acidic amines” – but it didn’t catch up.