JEE Chemistry 2024 Question with Solution

Given: Proteins on hydrolysis break into their constituent amino acids.

Find: The type of amino acids obtained.

Proteins are long chains of amino acids joined by peptide bonds. On hydrolysis, these peptide bonds are cleaved and individual amino acids are released.

The amino acids present in proteins are $\alpha$-amino acids. In these, the amino group $-\text{NH}_2$ is attached to the $\alpha$-carbon adjacent to the carboxyl group $-\text{COOH}$.

Hence, hydrolysis of proteins yields $\alpha$-amino acids.

The solution states the correct option as A, but the extracted option list shows $\alpha$ as option B. Based on the solution working and the actual option text, the chemically correct choice is $\alpha$, corresponding to option B in the extracted options.