Question

Does Isoleucine have hydrogen bonding potential?

Answer 1

The structure of iso leucine is

CH₃CH₂CH(CH₃)C(NH₂)(COOH)

We see that the CH₃CH₂CH(CH₃) is the alkyl part of the amino acid that forms the hydrophobic part of the amino acid. Now this hydrophobic part orients in such a way that hydrophilic part of the amino acid having NH₂ and COOH is available for H bonding but due to it being smaller in size than the hydrophobic part ,they have only limited hydrogen bonding potential.

We see that the large hydrophobic part i.e. alkyl part is oriented in such a manner that the rest of the amino acid can orient itself to form H bodning.