A new chelating polymer sorbent was synthesized through the copolymerization of styrene and maleic anhydride in the presence of divinyl benzene as the crosslinking agent, followed by hydrolysis. This polymeric resin, bearing O donor groups, had the advantage of being stable in basic and saline media, unlike its linear analogue. This newly developed chelating matrix has a high resin capacity for metal ions such as Cr, Fe, Ni, Cu, and Pb. Various physicochemical parameters, such as the pH, volume, and flow rate, and the interference effect on metal uptake were studied. The sorption capacities of the crosslinked resin for Cr(III), Fe(III), Ni(II), Cu(II), and Pb(II) were 10.2,14.3,14.2,15.4, and 8.8 mg/g, respectively. A high recovery of 98% was obtained for all the metal ions with 2N HCl as the eluting agent. The chelating resin was characterized by swelling studies, Fourier transform infrared, elemental analysis, X-ray studies, and thermal analysis. The Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherms were used to validate the metal-uptake data. (C) 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.