Importance of Glycine: 2011

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Why Glycine?

Even though Glycine is a non-essential, smallest, amino acid, it still has many important uses. Glycine can be found in many high protein foods as well as inside your medicine and can also be used as a taste enhancer. Glycine has many benefits, one of which is aiding in memory and cognition as well as helping the body control its blood sugar levels. Not only does it help the body but it is also a taste enhancer that can be found in your pet's food as well as in your protein drinks. Among all those other uses, Glycine is also added to some medication formulations in order to improve the absorption so it can work it's magic faster.

It is also used in such things as antiperspirants and antacids in order to make them safer and more stable for you. So what are you waiting for? Look for Glycine containing products at a store near you!

Important information about Glycine

Glycine is a polar molecule, it has 5 instances of different atoms bonding to each other, these are

H->O which is a moderately covalent bond,

H->C which is a highly covalent bond,

H->N which is a moderately covalent bond,

C->O which is a moderately covalent bond, and

N->H which is a moderately covalent bond

In terms of intermolecular forces, Glycine contains dispersion forces as do all molecules. It also contains hydrogen bonds due to the hydrogen in Glycine bonding to N and O which have high electro-negativity values and because of the unshared pairs on the two Os which creates a force between them when the molecule is bonded with itself. Glycine also contains dipole-dipole because it has a negative and positive end which when bonded to itself, would come together.