Now, what is an alpha amino acid? Well, an alpha amino acid contains a center carbon, that is an alpha carbon. And to see what we mean by that, let's take a look at the following diagram, which is basically the general structure of an alpha amino acid. And let's compare it to this diagram we've drawn right here. So let's suppose that the other group attached to this carbon is an oxygen group. So what that means is this entire group here is a carboxylic acid group in which this oxygen has been deprofename.