Is the molecule in the attached image technically an amino acid?

Is the molecule pictured below an amino acid? Not necessarily one of the common (natural) amino acids.


[![Is the molecule pictured an amino acid?](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zs3vh.jpg)](https://i.stack.imgur.com/Zs3vh.jpg) 




No it is not, as there is no carboxylic acid functionality present. An amino acid is defined in [this Wikipedia article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amino_acid) as follows: 



> 
> Amino acids are organic compounds containing amine ($\ce{-NH2}$) and carboxyl ($\ce{-COOH}$) functional groups, along with a side chain (R group) specific to each amino acid.
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No, it is not.


1. However, the starting structure for it is [gamma-Aminobutyric acid](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamma-Aminobutyric_acid), or GABA:


![](https://i.stack.imgur.com/ZLPT9.png)


2. Rather than the carboxylic acid ($\ce{-COOH}$) at one end, there is a [peptide bond](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peptide_bond) ($-\ce{C(=O)NH}-$).
3. Attached to the peptide bond is the most unnatural part, the $\ce{-CH2C(CH3)=CH2}$ organic tail.


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