Question

Which of the amino acids contain more than one chiral carbon atom? Draw the structures of these amino acids, and indicate all chiral carbon atoms

Short answer

Isoleucine and threonine contain more than one chiral carbon atom.

Step-by-step solution

 To find the amino acids

A chiral carbon atom or asymmetric carbon atom is a carbon atom that is bonded to four different groups.

An asymmetric carbon atom is the most common example of a chirality centre.

If you look at the amino acids you can see that only two of them have more than one chiral centre.

Step 2: Structures of amino acids

These two amino acids are isoleucine and threonine. Their structure and chiral centres are shown in the figure below.

Hence isoleucine and threonine contain more than one chiral carbon atom.