Illustrated Glossary of Organic Chemistry

Transamination: A reaction in which one amine is converted into another amine. The nitrogen atom of the starting amine is replace by the nitrogen atom of the product amine, and at least one group bonded to the amino group of the starting amine must remain unchanged in the product amine.

	+		Enzyme		+
Alanine		α-Ketoglutaric acid		Glutamic acid		Pyruvic acid

Amino acid metabolism usually begins with a transamination reaction. In this example, transamination converts alanine into glutamic acid. The amino group of alanine retains two hydrogen atoms that are present on the amino group of glutamic acid. The groups have been color-coded to make the process easier to follow.