Silanization of the silica gel surface in the synthesis of silica gel polyamine composites uses (chloropropyl)trichlorosilane (CPTCS). It is possible to substitute a molar fraction of reagent CPTCS with methyltrichlorosilane (MTCS), creating a mixed silane surface layer. Two types of silica gels were modified with a series of MTCS: CPTCS molar ratios. Solid-state CP/MAS Si-29 and C-13 NMR spectroscopies were used to evaluate the surface silane composition. Surface silane coverage was markedly improved for the resulting gels. When polyamines were grafted to the resultant MTCS: CPTCS silane layers, it was shown that the decrease in the number of propyl attachments to the polyamine resulted in increased quantities of "free amines". Optimum MTCS: CPTCS ratios were determined for three polyamines grafted onto one silica gel. A substantial free amine increase was observed for poly(allylamine) (PAA). Metal uptake studies show increases in Cu(II) capacity and/or an improvement in Cu(II) mass-transfer kinetics. The effect of polymer molecular weight upon Cu(II) capacity was investigated for each polyamine. Substantial differences in Cu(II) capacity between 50 000 MW poly(vinylamine) (PVA) and > 1000 MW PVA were evident. Similar differences between 25 000 MW poly(ethyleneimine) (PEI) and 1200 MW PEI were found. The mass-transfer kinetics was shown to be improved for composites prepared using a large fraction of MTCS in the reagent silane mixture. This resulted in substantial improvements in the 10% breakthrough Cu(II) capacity for PVA (50 000 MW). PEI composites were further modified to form an amino-acetate ligand. The impact of the MTCS: CPTCS silane ratio on the acetate ligand loading and ultimately on the Cu(II) capacity at pH = 2 was investigated. A ratio of 12.5:1 was shown to result in an acetate modified PEI composite with a Cu(II) capacity 140% of the Cu(II) capacity of the same composite prepared with "CPTCS only".