A new chelating resin (PVESO-AP) containing sulfoxide and 3-aminopyridine (AP) was synthesized by using chloromethylated polystyrene-co-divinylbenzene (PS-Cl) as material. Its structure was characterized by infrared spectra and elemental analysis. The adsorption capacities of the newly formed resin for Hg2+, Ag+, Cu2+, Zn2+, Cd2+, and Ni2+ were determined at pH 2 and 5. In addition, the adsorption selective coefficients for Hg2+ in several binary mixture systems were investigated by batch experiment method. The results showed that this resin had high adsorption selectivity for Hg2+. The adsorption kinetics and isothermal of PVESO-AP for Hg2+ at different temperatures were also investigated. The adsorption kinetics showed that the apparent activation energy E, was 13.71 kJ/mol. The results also showed that the Langmuir model was better than the Frundlich model to describe the isothermal process of PVESO-AP resin for Hg2+. (C) 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.