The removal of mercury and lead ions from aqueous solutions investigated by ethylenediamine, diethylenetriamine and tetraethylenepentamine functionalized polymeric adsorbent. The adsorbent was prepared by amination of terpolymer synthesized from glycidylmethacrylate, styrene and N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide. In the single metal species system (only mercury or lead ions are present) poly(glycidylmethacrylate-ethylenediamine) (PGMA-EDA), poly(glycidylmethacrylate-diethylenetriamine) (PGMA-DETA), and poly(glycidylmethacrylate-tetraethylenepentamine) (PGMA-TEPA) were found to adsorb lead or mercury ions with a slightly higher adsorption uptake capacity for lead than mercury ions. Among the three functionalized polymers poly(glycidylmethacrylate-diethylenetriamine) (PGMA-DETA) shows faster and higher adsorption capacity than poly(glycidylmethacrylate-ethylenediamine) (PGMA-EDA), poly(glycidylmethacrylate-tetraethylenepentamine) (PGMA-TEPA). The natural pH of both the metal ions was found to be most suitable for uptake. The uptake of Hg(II) and Pb (II) ions was investigated by using batch technique. The maximum adsorption capacities of Pb ions were predicted to be 4.74, 4.76 and 4.73 mmol/g and the maximum Hg(II) ion uptakes were found to be 4.76, 4.80 and 4.21 mmol/g respectively for PGMA-EDA, PGMA-DETA and PGMA-TEPA resins at their natural pH. The uptakes of Hg(II) and Pb(II) ions on the resins were found to follow Langmuir adsorption isotherm and pseudosecond order kinetics. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.