Why are proteins considered polymers?

1 Answer
Jan 10, 2018

A polymer is made up of multiple sub units tied together. A protein is made up of multiple subunits called amino acids.

Explanation:

Proteins are made up of hundreds even thousands of amino acids tied together by peptide bonds. Each amino acid has an acid group (#CHO_2 #)and a Nitride group ( #NH_2#) The two amino acids combine together forming a peptide bond and releasing a water molecule. This reaction can go on indefinitely forming a long chain of amino acids, The long chain of amino acids is called a polypeptide or a protein.

As a protein is actually a polypeptide , a protein is a polymer.
( Note all of the amino acids in a naturally occurring protein are left handed and must be arranged in a specific order for the protein to be biologically active. Insulin for example has 120 amino acids {one of the simplest proteins in the human body) Each of these must have only the left handed structure, odds of putting it together by artificial process # 2^120# time # 20^120# ,