Picomolar Detection of Heavy Ions with Surface Acoustic Wave Sensors Functionalized with New Synthetized Anthracene Derivates

104 MHz-surface acoustic wave sensors have been functionalized with three new anthracenederivatives for the detection of mercury and copper heavy ions: 2,2-bis(4 anthracenylme,thoxy-1,1′-biphenyl(BP-AN), 9-{[4-({[4-(9anthrylmethoxy)phenyl]sulfanyl}methyl)]methyl] anthracene (TDP-AN) and 4-(9-anthrylmethoxy) benzyl [4-(9-anthrylmethoxy) phenyl] sulfone (BPS-AN). Gravimetric results indicate that, compared to TDP-AN and BPS-AN, BP-AN based chemsensor has the highest affinitytowards the two investigated ions.The corresponding sensitivities were of order of 3.67 × 108 °/M and 2.24 × 108 °/M for Hg2+ and Cu2+ respectively. The limit of detection of the BP-AN-SAW chemsensor, of order of 1 pM, is one of the lowest values ever reported in the literature. Experimental results were supported by quantum chemical calculations, based on the density functional theory.