A new class of ion-selective chelating polymer has been developed, using Amberlite XAD-16 (AXAD-16) polymer support functionalized with (bis-2,3,4-trihydroxy benzyl) ethylene diamine (BTBED) as metal chelatogen, through an azo spacer mechanism. Various physio-chemical parameters like solution pH, metal exchange kinetics, metal loading capacity, diverse ion tolerance, sample breakthrough volume, etc., that influence the quantitative metal ion sorption to the resin phase were studied and optimized by both static and dynamic method. The resin showed exclusive ion-selectivity behavior towards actinide and post-transition ions under varying experimental conditions. Quantitative preconcentration and separation of analytes were possible by varying the solution pH and eluant concentration. The extraction efficiency of the chelating resin was investigated and it was found to have a high metal loading capacity value of 1.43, 1.19, 1.01, and 0.78 mmol g-1 for U(VI), Th(IV), Pb(II) and Cd(II), respectively. The kinetic studies showed a t1/2 value of <3 min for all the metal ions of interest. The resin showed greater resistivity to various complexing species and more common metal ions ultimately resulting in a high preconcentration factor for all the analytes. Extractive behavior was further investigated using synthetic and real samples, and the results were found reproducible with rsd values of <3.5%, for all analytical measurements. © 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.