BACKGROUND: The nuclear power industry and other high-tech industries require increasing quantities of uranium and rare-earth elements (REEs). There is a need for materials that can competitively recover these metals from ore leachates (such as produced in the leaching of Egyptian ores). RESULTS: A sorbent based on the chemical grafting of glutamine moieties on a magnetic polyacrylonitrile support was synthesized: polyacrylonitrile, crosslinked with 10% divinyl benzene in the presence of magnetite, was chemically modified by a series of grafting steps to produce a magnetic polyglutamine sorbent (MGLU). The sorbent was characterized by titration, elemental analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis, Fourier-transform infra-red (FTIR) spectrometry and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The sorption properties were tested as a function of pH; the sorption isotherms were modeled using the Langmuir equation (maximum sorption capacities: 2 mmol U g(-1) and up to 3.5 mmol g(-1) for Nd(III) and Dy(III)). The equilibrium is achieved within 1 h of contact. Metal desorption and sorbent recycling are highly efficient using acidic solutions; sorption/desorption performance remains stable for a minimum of 5 cycles. MGLU was tested for metal binding in multi-metal solutions at different pH values. CONCLUSION: This sorbent could be used for the recovery of REEs and uranium from simulated ore leachates. (C) 2017 Society of Chemical Industry