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Benzamidine is the
organic compound
In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon- hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. Th ...
with the formula C6H5C(NH)NH2. It is the simplest aryl amidine. The compound is a white solid that is slightly soluble in water. It is usually handled as the hydrochloride salt, a white, water-soluble solid.
In terms of its molecular structure, Benzamidine features one short C=NH bond and one longer C-NH2 bond, respectively 129 and 135 picometers.
Applications
Benzamidine is a reversible competitive inhibitor oftrypsin
Trypsin is an enzyme in the first section of the small intestine that starts the digestion of protein molecules by cutting these long chains of amino acids into smaller pieces. It is a serine protease from the PA clan superfamily, found in the d ...
, trypsin-like enzymes and serine proteases.
It is often used as a ligand
In coordination chemistry, a ligand is an ion or molecule ( functional group) that binds to a central metal atom to form a coordination complex. The bonding with the metal generally involves formal donation of one or more of the ligand's ele ...
in protein crystallography to prevent proteases
A protease (also called a peptidase, proteinase, or proteolytic enzyme) is an enzyme that catalyzes (increases reaction rate or "speeds up") proteolysis, breaking down proteins into smaller polypeptides or single amino acids, and spurring the ...
from degrading a protein of interest; the triangular diamine group at the bottom gives it a very obvious 'stick-man' shape which shows up in difference density maps. The benzamidine moiety is also found in some pharmaceuticals, like dabigatran.
Condensation with various haloketones provides a synthetic route to 2,4-disubstituted imidazole
Imidazole (ImH) is an organic compound with the formula C3N2H4. It is a white or colourless solid that is soluble in water, producing a mildly alkaline solution. In chemistry, it is an aromatic heterocycle, classified as a diazole, and has non ...
s.
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References
Phenyl compounds Amidines {{Organic-compound-stub