This work describes eight novel aromatic and aliphatic-aromatic poly(amide urea)s. These polyamides are semicrystalline and are soluble in polar aprotic solvents. They also demonstrate a film-forming capability, they exhibit moderate thermal resistance and the decomposition temperature is similar in oxidizing and inert atmosphere. The urea group imparts hydrophilicity to the polymers and is an efficient host unit for anions, which facilitates the preparation of solid polymer phases to be used as extractants for the extraction/elimination of environmentally toxic cations from aqueous environments. These systems give moderate but promising results in the extraction of different Pb-II and Hg-II salts from aqueous solution. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.