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Topic: Zwitterion  (Read 7587 times)

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HongKongALevelboy

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Zwitterion
« on: September 20, 2004, 11:19:21 AM »
the definition of zwitterion is not clearly stated in my book . Can anyone definite ' zwitterion ' ? i want a concise answer . thx ^_^

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Re:Zwitterion
« Reply #1 on: September 20, 2004, 12:40:29 PM »
A zwitterion is a molecule with a positive charge on one atom and a negative charge on another atom.  The most common example is probably in amino acids, which exists with the acid deprotonated and the amine protonated.  It's derived from the German zwei, meaning two ("two ions").

Offline Donaldson Tan

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Re:Zwitterion
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2004, 01:25:08 AM »
must the overall charge of a zwitterion be zero? eg. in the case of aminoacids, what if the molecule contain 2 -NH2 and 1 -COOH group..
"Say you're in a [chemical] plant and there's a snake on the floor. What are you going to do? Call a consultant? Get a meeting together to talk about which color is the snake? Employees should do one thing: walk over there and you step on the friggin� snake." - Jean-Pierre Garnier, CEO of Glaxosmithkline, June 2006

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Re:Zwitterion
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2004, 02:04:03 AM »
Yes, I just double checked in my chemical dictionary and it says that it's a positive and a negative charge.

Offline AWK

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Re:Zwitterion
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2004, 02:36:03 AM »
Zwitterion is a specific name for net not charged molecule, so theoretically molecule may possess two positive and two negative charges.
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Re:Zwitterion
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2004, 04:17:37 AM »
so a zwitterion is an ion that contains at least a pair of oppositely-charged sites, such that its overall charge is zero..
"Say you're in a [chemical] plant and there's a snake on the floor. What are you going to do? Call a consultant? Get a meeting together to talk about which color is the snake? Employees should do one thing: walk over there and you step on the friggin� snake." - Jean-Pierre Garnier, CEO of Glaxosmithkline, June 2006

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Re:Zwitterion
« Reply #6 on: September 22, 2004, 07:33:23 AM »
Any proposition for double zwitterionic amino acid (natural, but non-protein one)?
AWK

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