A new chelating resin was synthesized in the reaction of poly(MVE-alt-MA) polymer with a Schiff base obtained in condensation of 2-acetylpyridine and 4-aminobenzoic hydrazide. Its composition, properties and morphology were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, derivative scanning calorimetry, scanning electron microscopy and N-2 sorptometry. The effects of several parameters that affect the adsorption of Cu2+, Cd2+, Cr3+, Ni2+ and Co2+ including concentration, contact time, temperature and pH were examined. The adsorption capacity of the resin for the ions studied was found in the range 29.95-157.25 mg g(-1). The adsorption process of ions studied generally followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. The kinetics of this process was found to follow the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The changes in thermodynamic parameters, particularly in standard enthalpy (Delta H degrees), standard entropy (Delta S degrees) and Gibbs free energy (Delta G degrees) were analyzed. The resin was found effective in removal of heavy metal ions from real wastewater samples that contained high concentrations of the above-mentioned ions. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.