Synthesis of a novel metal chelating ion exchange resin specific for zinc

A naturally occurring hydrophilic polysaccharide matrix of chitosan after i ts crosslinking with epichlorohydrin has been used for the preparation of a new chelating resin incorporating dithiocarbamate group. Physico-chemical characteristics of the cross-linked chitosan (CL-CH) and its dithiocarbamat e derivative (DTC-CH) are reported. The amount of metal ions retained by th ese resins at equilibrium has been determined in terms of distribution coef ficient values (Kd) The metal exchange capacity of resins at different pH v alues is also evaluated. Using dithiocarbamate resin in a column mode of op eration, zinc-cadmium and zinc-copper separations have been quantitatively achieved at pH 9.