A new chelating polymeric sorbent was developed by functionalizing Amberlite XAD-16 with 1,3-dimethyl-3-aminopropan-1-ol via a simple condensation mechanism. The newly developed chelating matrix offered a high resin capacity and faster sorption kinetics for the metal ions such as Mn(II), Pb(II), Ni(II), Co(II), Cu(II), Cd(II) and Zn(II). Various physio-chemical parameters like pH-effect, kinetics, eluant volume and flow rate, sample breakthrough volume, matrix interference effect on the metal ion sorption have been studied. The optimum pH range for the sorption of the above mentioned metal ions were 6.0-7.5, 6.0-7.0, 8.0-8.5, 7.0-7.5, 6.5-7.5, 7.5-8.5 and 6.5-7.0, respectively. The resin capacities for Mn(II), Pb(II), Ni(II), Co(II), Cu(II), Cd(II) and Zn(II) were found to be 0.62, 0.23, 0.55, 0.27, 0.46, 0.21 and 0.25 mmol g-1 of the resin, respectively. The lower limit of detection was 10 ng ml-1 for Cd(II), 40 ng ml-1 for Mn(II) and Zn(II), 32 ng ml-1 for Ni(II), 25 ng ml-1 for Cu(II) and Co(II) and 20 ng ml-1 for Pb(II). A high preconcentration value of 300 in the case of Mn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Cd(II) and a value of 500 and 250 for Pb(II) and Zn(II), respectively, were achieved. A recovery of > 98% was obtained for all the metal ions with 4 M HCl as eluting agent except in the case of Cu(II) where in 6 M HCl was necessary. The chelating polymer showed low sorption behavior to alkali and alkaline earth metals and also to various inorganic anionic species present in saline matrix. The method was applied for metal ion determination from water samples like seawater, well water and tap water and also from green leafy vegetable, from certified multivitamin tablets and steel samples. © 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.