L-arginine is the most basic amino acid since it carries guanidyl group in addition to the $\alpha$-amino group. The arginine molecule is a zwitterion with the guanidyl group, rather than the primary $\alpha$-amino group, accepting extra proton from carboxylic acid group (Ref.1). Protonated or not, when consider guanidine as a molecule, there shouldn't be any $\mathrm{sp^3}$ nitrogen in the molecule because it is resonance-stabilized molecule. As a guanidyl group, this principle stays the same and it stays flat. There are few excellent answers to similar question you could find in [here](https://chemistry.stackexchange.com/questions/13593/protonation-of-guanidine). In one answer it states that: >Guanidine is isolobal to urea, where the carbonyl oxygen has been replaced by an imine $\ce{NH}$. However, in principle it is still the same flat, resonance-stabilised molecule. The main difference is that there is no ‘preferred’ site for the double bond — it could point towards any of the three nitrogens in theory; you could say the diamide resonance is enhanced (Author: Jan). And, accepted answer showed following diagram to depict the concept of resonance stabilization (Author: Ron): [![Guanidine reseonance][1]][1] Further, I'll attached recent crystal structure of L-arginine, which shows clear equivalent three nitrogen atoms with hydrohen bonding network (Ref.2): [![Arginine Crystal][2]][2] >Two planes characterize the arginine molecule: one through the acid group and the other through the extended side chain, which contains the guanidyl group. The dihedral angle between these two planes is $74^\circ$ (Ref.1). **References:** [1]: https://i.sstatic.net/an8gY.jpg [2]: https://i.sstatic.net/mPMea.jpg