Abstract

Poly[acrylamide-co-1-(2-hydroxyethyl)aziridine], obtained by spontaneous copolymerization, which contains different types of ligand groups as tertiary amines and hydroxyl and amide groups, was tested as a polychelatogen using the liquid-phase polymer-based retention (LPR) technique. The metal ion retention ability of this polymer was found to depend on the pH and it showed a high selectivity to copper(II) at pH 5. The maximum capacity of Cu(II) was determined at pH 5 by using the enrichment variant of LPR. The retention capacities of the polymer with Cu(II), Cd(II), Co(II), Cr(III), Ni(II), Pb(II), Zn(II), and Fe(II) were studied at different pH and the results are compared with those of branched polyethylenimine and poly [1-(2-hydroxyethyl)aziridine] homopolymers. © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.