Crosslinked poly(2-acrylamido glycolic acid) resin was synthesized by radical polymerization. This resin contains three potential ligand groups and was studied as an adsorbent of trace heavy metal ions from a saline aqueous solution and sea water by using the Batch equilibrium procedure. Adsorption characteristics of the resin toward Cu(II), Ni(II), Cd(II), and Pb(II) were studied spectrophotometrically, both in competitive and noncompetitive conditions. The effect of pH, contact time, amount of sorbent, temperature, and salinity were studied. The resin showed a high affinity particularly for Ni(II). It was possible to remove completely Ni(II) and Pb(II) from the resin by 4M HNO3. The retention properties of the resin were also investigated for Cu(II) contained in natural sea waters. The retention behavior was similar to that of the synthetic metal ion aqueous solution. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.