The adsorption behaviors of Hg(II) on adsorbents, chitosan functionalized by generation 1.0-3.0 of amino-terminated hyperbranched polyamidoamine polymers (denoted as CTS-1.0, CTS-2.0 and CTS-3.0, respectively), were studied. The optimum pH corresponding to the maximum adsorption capacities was found to be 5.0 for the three adsorbents. The experimental equilibrium data of Hg(II) on the three adsorbents were fitted to the Freundlich and the Langmuir models, and it is found that the Langmuir isotherm was the best fitting model to describe the equilibrium adsorption. The kinetics data indicated that the adsorption process of Hg(II) ions on CTS-1.0, CTS-2.0 and CTS-3.0 were governed by the film diffusion and followed pseudo-second-order rate model. Thermodynamic analysis and FTIR analysis revealed that the adsorption behaviors of Hg(II) ions on the three adsorbents could be considered as spontaneous, endothermic and chemical sorption process, resulting in their higher adsorption capacities at higher temperature. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.