The adsorption properties, including the adsorption kinetics, adsorption isotherms, and adsorption selectivity, of newly formed chelating resins that contained a heterocyclic functional group and a hydrophilic spacer arm of poly(ethylene glycol) [polystyrene-diethylene glycol-2-amino-5-methylthio-1,3,4-thiadizole (PS-DEG-AMTZ) and polystyrene-triethylene glycol-2-amino-5-methylthio-1,3,4-thiadizole (PS-TEG-AMTZ)] were studied in detail. The results show that the adsorption kinetics of PS-DEG-AMTZ and PS-TEG-AMTZ for Hg2+ and Ag+ could be described by a pseudo-second-order rate equation. The introduction of a spacer arm between the polymeric matrix and functional group was beneficial for increasing the adsorption rates. The apparent activation energies of the resins for Hg2+ and Ag+ were within 20.89-32.32 kJ/mol. The Langmuir model could describe the isothermal process of Hg2+ and Ag+. The competitive adsorption of the resins for Hg2+ and Ag+ in binary mixture systems was also investigated. The results show that Hg2+ and Ag+ were adsorbed before the other metal ions, such as Cu2+ , Zn2+ , Fe2+ , Cd2+ , and Pb2+ , under competitive conditions. Five adsorption-desorption cycles were conducted for the reuse of the resins. The results indicate that these two resins were suitable for reuse without considerable changes in the adsorption capacity. (C) 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 116: 636-644, 2010