Notes on the Origins of the Trivial Names of the Protein Amino Acids

The trivial names of the common amino acids have arisen in various ways: Two amino acids were named because
of their appearance―one of these was unique in that it was white! Another was named because of its taste. Four were
named after the sources of their isolation. One was so named because of the presence of an impurity in the product
originally isolated. Other trivial names follow more or less from their chemical structures. It is remarkable―but
unquestionably fortunate―that recent efforts to improve certain features of biochemical terminology have not yet affected
the amino acids. However, the following comment (2) appeared in 1890: “Neumeister has recently proposed to name this
compound ‘Tryptophan’. In my opinion this says on the one hand too much and on the other too little… [it] does not
permit one to recognize the origin of our substance from protein compounds, and this in my opinion is very important. As
soon as we have recognized the structure of the compound in question, a correct name will suggest itself.”

Alanine. Strecker synthesized this amino acid from acetaldehyde in 1850, and proposed the term alanine, which
contains the first syllable of the word aldehyde.
Arginine. This name was proposed by Schulze and Steiger in 1886, probably because of the silvery white
appearance of the arginine nitrate [Greek, (argypheos)]; they did not use silver in the course of isolation.
Asparagine. This amino acid was named by Dulong 20 years after its first isolation from asparagus juice by
Vauquelin and Robiquet (1806). The name aspartic acid was subsequently given by Plisson (1927) to the acid he obtained
on heating asparagine with lead hydroxide.
Cystine. Wollaston (1810) obtained this amino acid from urinary bladder calcui and because he believed it to be
an oxide, gave it the name cystic oxide [from the Greek (kystis) meaning bladder]. Berzelius later (1833) used the term
cystine. Baumann (1884) gave the name cysteine to the product he obtained after reduction of cystine.
Glutamic acid. Ritthausen (1866) named this amino acid, which he first isolated from wheat gluten (gliadin). The
relationship between glutamic acid and glutamine was suggested as a pure speculation by Hlasiwetz and Habermann in
1873, and was demonstrated by Schulze and Bosshard in 1885.
Glycine. Braconnot noted the sweet taste of the amino acid he isolated from gelatin in 1820 and named it “sucre
de gélatine.” Later, the terms glycocoll (Horsford, 1846) and glycine (Berzelius, 1848) were used; these are derived from
the Greek (glykys), sweet, and (koila), glue.
Histidine. This name was given by Kossel to the new basic amino acid that he isolated in 1896 from hydrolyzates
of sturgeon sperm protamine; histidine is derived from the Greek (histion), tissue.
Isoleucine. Ehrlich (1904) recognized the presence in sugar molasses of an amino acid that was very similar to
but not identical with leucine, and suggested the term isoleucine.
Leucine. Proust (1819) obtained impure but white leucine from cheese. Braconnot noted the remarkably white
color of the leucine he isolated from proteins and named the amino acid from the Greek (leukos), white. Apparently
whiteness was not a common property of products isolated from nature at that time.
Lysine. Drechsel (1890) isolated the silver nitrate salt of a basic material from a protein hydrolyzate and found
that it released urea when heated with baryta. He named the basic product (which he believed to be homologous with
creatine) lysatin [Greek (lysis), “loosing”]. Later Hedin (1895) showed that “lysatin” was a mixture of lysine and arginine.
Drechsel first proposed the term lysine (1891) for the amino acid which he correctly considered to be a diaminocaproic
acid.
Methionine. Barger and Coyne (1928) suggested the term methionine as a suitable contraction for γ-methylthiol-
α-aminobutyric acid.
Phenylalanine. Erlenmeyer and Lipp (1882) proposed the term Phenylalanin for “phenyl-α-amido-propionsäure,”
which they synthesized by the Strecker procedure from phenylacetaldehyde.
Proline. The term Prolin was proposed by Fischer (1904), who felt that “α-pyrrolidin-carbonsäure” was too long
for use in describing peptides containing this amino acid. The term hydroxyproline (also isolated by Fischer) arose by
analogy.
Serine. Cramer (1865) separated the gelatinous protein of crude silk, which he named sericine [from the Greek
(serikos) meaning silken], and from which he isolated the first preparation of serine.
Threonine. This L-amino acid was so named because of its relationship to D-threose.
Tryptophan. Neumeister (1890) gave the name Tryptophan to the substance present in tryptic digests of proteins
which exhibited properties similar to those of indole. The name, which is derived from the Greek words (thrypsomai) and
(phaino), meaning to be broken and to appear, respectively, was applied by Hopkins and Cole (1901) to the amino acid they
isolated from casein.
Tyrosine. Liebig (1846) first isolated the crystalline amino acid from cheese and named it tyrosine [Greek (tyros),
cheese].
Valine. Several early workers were aware of the presence of an aminovaleric acid in various natural materials.
Fischer, who finally established its structure in 1906 proposed the term valine.