Description

It is an alpha amino acid with the chemical formula C6H14N4O2, which was first extracted from Lupinus seedlings in 1986 by the Swiss scientist Ernst Schultze. L-arginine is the common natural form of this amino acid, which has the sequence CGC, CGA, CGG, AGA, and AGG and is classified as a semi-essential (conditionally essential) amino acid in the mammalian body. The side chain of this amino acid has three straight chain carbons and is aliphatic; at the end of which is a guanidinium complex. The lack of charge placement in the guanidinium group causes arginine to have a pKa=12.48. This charge instability gives arginine different chemical properties