A new chelating resin has been synthesized by introducing a quinaldinic acid amide group into styrenedivinyl benzene (8%) copolymer beads. The resin is stable in fairly strong acids or alkali and has been characterized by elemental analysis for nitrogen and from i.r. spectra. The water regain value is 0.37g/g. The sorption patterns of Na(I), K(I), Ca(II), Mg(II), Pb(II), Cu(II), Ni(II), Zn(II), Cd(II), Hg(II) and Fe(III) on the chelating resin have been studied as a function of pH. The resin selectively sorbs Hg(II) ever a wide pH-range of 2.5–7.6 with high efficiency. The maximum exchange capacity for Hg(II) is 1.98 mmols g−1at pH 5.5. Over 99% of Hg(II) sorbed has been recovered by using 10% thiourea in 1MHClO4both by batch and column operations. The has been utilized in the preconcentration and recovery of Hg(II) from industrial and laboratory waste water.