A 245.3-g sample of glutamic acid, C₅H₉NO₄, is recovered from an experiment using fermentation to convert biomass. How many moles of C₅H₉NO₄ are in this sample? How many molecules is this?

Strategy We are asked to convert from mass to moles. So we must determine the molar mass of the substance and then use it to carry out the conversion. Once we know the number of moles, we can easily find the number of molecules because we know that 1 mole contains Avogadro’s number of molecules.