20 Molecularly Accurate Amino Acids

I created these models based on their published SMILES (Simplified Molecular-Input Line-Entry System) sequences to help teach the fundamental concept in AP Biology of “Structure determines Function”. I noticed that my students had a hard time thinking about 3D molecular shapes of amino acids when all they did was look at a chemical formula or an “R” group so I made these to try to help them bridge that gap. They can either be printed all together in the same color or they could be printed in different colors based on their side-chain chemical groups. If you click on each one, you can see it's name so you can organize them however you see fit.