L-Serine

Although serine is one of the most difficult of all the amino acids to isolate from proteins, it was one of the early amino acids to be discovered. Serine was first obtained by Cramer in 1865 when it was isolated from silk. The amino acid was first synthesized by Fischer and Leuchs in 1902 from glycolic aldehyde by the Strecker cyanohydrin method.

IUPAC Name: (2S)-2-Amino-3-hydroxypropanoic acid
Symbol: Ser or S
Molecular Weight: 105.09258 g/mol
Molecular Formula: C3H7NO3
Canonical SMILES: C(C(C(=O)O)N)O
Isomeric SMILES: C([C@@H](C(=O)O)N)O
InChIKey Identifier: MTCFGRXMJLQNBG-ODVHTPRODA
CAS Number: 56-45-1
MDL Number: MFCD00064224
Melting point: 222 °C
Solubility in water: 250 g/L (20 °C)
2D Molfile: Get the molfile
3D PDB file: Get the PDB file
Other names: beta-Hydroxyalanine; (S)-Serine

Load 3D Structure of Serine

Serine plays a major role in a variety of biosynthetic pathways including those involving purines, pyrimidines and porphyrins. It is also the precursor to several amino acids, including glycine and cysteine.

Go to Amino Acids index page.