Commercially available poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) was covalently modified with terpyridine supramolecular binding units in a two-step reaction. First, PVC was modified with aromatic thiols to introduce OH functionalities into the polymer backbone, which were subsequently reacted with an isocyanate-functionalized terpyridine binding unit. The resulting functionalized material contained metal-ion binding sites, which could be used for grafting and crosslinking reactions. A grafting experiment was performed with a small organic terpyridine ligand. The complexation of the modified PVC with several transition-metal ions was studied with ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy and gel permeation chromatography. (C) 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.