A new anionic sorbent has been prepared by gel-coating highly quaternized poly(4-vinylpyridine) as a thin layer on high surface area silica. The resulting granular sorbent, designated as SiO2..[QPVP(Cl-)], affords nearly 80% attainment of theoretical capacity and remarkably faster kinetics with 1-2 orders of magnitude higher rate of sorption and elution, as compared to conventional bead resins HPQ(Cl-) and IRA-400(CI-), in the removal of 2-naphthalenesulfonate from dilute aqueous solutions. Shell progressive batch loading models with changing bulk concentration for both bead-form and gel-coated ion-exchange resins have been derived analytically. These models fit the experimental loading data well, yielding average values of 0.88 X 10(-5), 1.88 X 10(-5), and 7.47 X 10(-5) cm2/s for the product of distribution coefficient and effective diffusivity in the sorption of 2-naphthalenesulfonate on HPQ(Cl-), IRA-400(Cl-), and SiO2..[QPVP(Cl-)], respectively.