A macroporous poly(vmylthloproplonamlde) chelating resm was synthesized from spherical poly(vmyl chloride) resm particles and used for the enrichment and separation of trace noble metal ions Trace Au(III), Pt(IV) and Pd(II) m sample solutions can be enriched quantitatively m the range 5 M HCI-pH 9 with recoveries > %%, and the recovery of trace Ir(IV) at pH l-9 was > 93%, however, the adsorption of Rh(III) and Ru(III) at pH 3-6 was < 16% When Au, Pt, Pd and Ir ions were adsorbed by the resin at a flow-rate of 4 ml mm-', the recoveries of Au, Pt, Pd eluted with 6% thlourea-1 M HCI and Ir with 6 M HCI were > 96% The adsorption capacity of the resin was 978 mg g-' for Au, 288 mg g-' for Pt, 455 mg g-' for Pd and 10 mg g -' for Ir When the resin was reused ten times, the recovenes of the above Ions on enrichment were still > 92% and a lOO-fold excess of other Ions caused little interference m the determmatlon of the ions The eluted Ions were determined by mductlvely coupled plasma atomic emlsslon spectrometry (ICP-AES) The lowest concentrations determined were 0 040 fig ml-' for Au, Pt and Pd and 0020 pg ml-' for Ir The contents of Au and Ir m non-ferrous metals determined by preconcentratlon followed by Zeeman-effect atomic absorption spectrometry or ICP-AES were m good agreement with the certified values The structures of the resin, investigated by Founer transform IR spectrometry and electron spectroscopy revealed that Au, Pt and Pd ions were chelated mamly with the thloketo form of the thloproplonamide group m the resin, forming a quadndentate chelate