Detection of L-Aspartic Acid and L-Glutamic Acid in Water Using a Fluorescent Nanoparticle Constructed by Pillar[5]arene-Based Molecular Recognition

Aspartic acid and glutamic acid show critical impact in the central nervous system as excitatory neurotransmitters. The selective detection of aspartic acid and glutamic acid has a wide range of potential applications in the field of biomedicine. In this work, we report the highly selective detection of L-Aspartic acid (L-Asp) and L-Glutamic acid (L-Glu) in water is achieved by using a fluorescent nanoparticle constructed by a water-soluble pillar[5]arene-based host-guest interactions. These nanoparticles show strong fluorescent emission in water. After the addition of L-Asp or L-Glu to a solution of the fluorescent nanoparticles, these nanoparticles transformed to nanosheets with weak fluorescent emission, resulting the highly selective detection of aspartic acid and glutamic acid in water. The detection limits of the fluorescent nanoparticles toward L-Asp and L-Glu were calculated to be 2.09x10(-7) M and 4.03x10(-7) M, respectively. This work provide an efficiency way for highly sensitive detection of L-Asp and L-Glu in water.