An amino acid that has a single hydrogen atom as its side chain is ________ in nature.

Step-by-step solution

Amino acids are substituted methanes as these consist of four bonds. These are carboxyl group, amino group, hydrogen and variable R group. Since the carbon in amino acids have four different bonds, it is considered as chiral carbon and such amino acids are optically active. Optically active compounds can rotate the plane-polarized light. Glycine amino acid is optically inactive as it does not show chiral carbon because in glycine variable R is H. Glycine is also termed as neutral amino acid as it has one acidic and