The chelating membranes for adsorption of metal ions were prepared by the photograffing of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) onto a polyethylene (PE) film and the subsequent modification of the resultant GMA-grafted PE (PE-g-PGMA) films with disodium iminodiacetate in an aqueous solution of 55% DMSO at 80 degrees C. The adsorption and desorption properties of the iminodiacetate (IDA) group-appended PE-g-PGMA (IDA-(PE-g-PGMA)) films to Cu2+ ions were investigated as functions of the grafted amount, pH value, Cu2+ ion concentration, and temperature. The amount of adsorbed Cu2+ ions increased with an increase in the pH value in the range of 1.0-5.0. The time required to reach the equilibrium adsorption decreased with an increase in the temperature, although the degree of adsorption stayed almost constant. The amount of Cu2+ ions desorbed from the (IDA-(PE-g-PGMA)) films increased and the time required to reach the equilibrium desorption decreased with an increase in the HCl concentration. About 100% Of CU2+ ions were desorbed in the aqueous HCl solutions of more than 0.5M. The amounts of adsorbed and desorbed Cu2+ ions were almost the same in each cyclic process of adsorption in a CuCl2 buffer at PH 5.0 and desorption in an aqueous 1.0M HCl solution. These results indicate that the IDA-(PE-g-PGMA) films can be applied to a repeatedly generative chelating membrane for adsorption and desorption of metal ions. (c) 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.