This text is intended for undergraduate and beginning graduate students in chemistry and biochemistry studying amino acids and peptides. The authors concentrate on amino acids and peptides without detailed discussions of proteins, while giving all the essential background chemistry, including sequence determination, synthesis and spectroscopic methods. The approach is intended to encourage the reader to cross classical boundaries while gaining an understanding of protein behavior on a molecular level. The book includes chapters on the biological roles of amino acids, as well as a section on enzyme-catalyzed synthesis of peptides, with suitable examples, an area often neglected in texts describing peptide synthesis. This modern text will be of value in the amino acid, peptide and protein field, to advanced undergraduates, graduate students and research workers.