Differential detection of aspartic acid in MCF-7 breast cancer cells.

Aspartic acid is a non-essential amino acid obtained in the neuroendocrine tissues of vertebrates and invertebrates. Aspartic acid, a major excitatory neurotransmitter in the mammalian central nervous system, plays a key role in memory and acts in many other normal and abnormal physiological processes. In this work, we have developed an efficient chemosensor (PCF) based on the pyridine-carbazole moiety for the differential detection of aspartic acid in biological systems. PCF has a strong binding affinity towards aspartic acid, with a detection limit in the nanomolar range. The binding stoichiometry of aspartic aid and PCF was obtained as 1 : 1 from a Jobs plot analysis. Furthermore, the efficacy of PCF has been successfully demonstrated in in vitro experiments in MCF-7 breast cancer cells.