A Biphasic Mercury‐Ion Sensor: Exploiting Microfluidics to Make Simple Anilines Competitive Ligands

Combining the molecular wire effect with a biphasic sensing approach (analyte in water, sensor‐dye in 2‐methyltetrahydrofuran) and a microfluidic flow setup leads to the construction of a mercury‐sensitive module. We so instantaneously detect Hg 2+ ions in water at a 500 μ M concentration. The sensor, conjugated non‐water soluble polymer 1 (XFPF), merely supports dibutylaniline substituents as binding units. Yet, selective and sensitive detection of Hg 2+ ‐ions is achieved in water. The enhancement in sensory response, when comparing the reference compound 2 to that of 1 in a biphasic system in a microfluidic chip is >10 3 . By manipulation of the structure of 1 , further powerful sensor systems should be easily achieved.