Miniaturization of a reactive doped sol-gel material is described. A reversible fluorescent pH sensor was constructed by placing a pyranine doped SiO2 sol-gel matrix at a 10 mu m tip of a metal coated micropipette. Subsecond response time was achieved by further downscaling to similar to 1 mu m. Using optical near-field microscopy configuration, these observations demonstrate the potential of constructing a variety of miniaturized sensors and chemical manipulators, by doping the sol-gel matrix with a suitable reagent.