I've looked around for about an hour for a site that discussed benefits and drawbacks of amino acids. It was tough to find one that looked legit (i.e. not trying to just sell supplements)

Anyways, I thought I'd pass this one along to you all...make sure you click on the "Info" button to learn more...the other takes you to the website's store (maybe beneficial if you want to concoct your own blends of aminos)

http://www.bodyandfitness.com/Information/Fitness/amino-chart.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amino_acid

Here is another, thats not commercial.
I like Wikipedia, it's non-bias.

In chemistry, an amino acid is a molecule that contains both amine and carboxyl functional groups. In biochemistry, this term refers to alpha-amino acids with the general formula H2NCHRCOOH, where R is an organic substituent.[1] In the alpha amino acids, the amino and carboxylate groups are attached to the same carbon, which is called the α–carbon. The various alpha amino acids differ in which side chain (R group) is attached to their alpha carbon. They can vary in size from just a hydrogen atom in glycine through a methyl group in alanine to a large heterocyclic group in tryptophan.

Great stuff,
Maxwell