A thermoresponsive polymer containing highly dense iminodiacetic acid segments was newly designed for the efficient preconcentration of trace metals in water. The polymer was synthesized by the water-soluble carbodiimidemediated condensation of poly(N-isopropylacrylamide-co-acrylic acid) with polyallylamine and the subsequent conversion of amino groups to iminodiacetic acid. Metal ions in water were collected by adding the thermoresponsive polymer, sodium nitrate, dodecyltrimethylammonium chroride, and buffer components and then heating the resulting solution to form polymer deposits. The use of 0.02% (w/v) thermoresponsive polymer allowed the nearly complete (>99.8%) collection of seven metals (Be, Co, Ni, Cu, Cd, In, and Pb) in the pH range of 6.88.3. The polymer deposits were readily collected as a condensed coagulate and dissolved with a small amount of water for the analysis by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Because of highly efficient (100-fold) concentration, these metals at pg cm ¹3 ng cm ¹3 levels were successfully determined. The precision and accuracy were evaluated by analyzing certified reference water samples.Graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS) has extensively been used for the determination of trace metals in different water samples, because of its high sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, and versatility in the analysis. However, suitable preconcentration methods are often necessary for the accurate determination of ultra-trace amounts of metals in environmental waters. Chelating ion-exchangers, 13 reagentimmobilized sorbents, 47 and synthetic zeolite 8 have been employed for this purpose. The formation of metal chelates followed by the sorption onto polymer beads, 9,10 C18-bonded silica gels, 1113 and surfactant-coated sorbents (hemi-micelles or admicelles) 1416 were potentially useful as more efficient preconcentration methods. In these methods, however, sample solutions should be passed through sorbent-packed columns, which is often tedious and time-consuming. Furthermore, the elution of trace metals is often insufficient because of irreversible sorption.An attractive alternative may be a polymer-mediated extraction of hydrophobic metal chelates. 17,18 That is based on the thermoresponsive precipitation phenomenon of a water-soluble polymer, poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) [PNIPAAm] or poly-(methyl vinyl ether), above its lower critical solution temperature (LCST, ca. 32°C 1921 ). During the precipitation, hydrophobic substances in the aqueous solution can be solubilized and incorporated into the polymer assembly. For the application to the concentration of trace metals, the polymer-mediated extraction was conducted after converting metal ions into hydrophobic chelates with appropriate chelating agents. Since the polymer aggregates were condensed to an extremely small volume, the desired metal chelates were highly concentrated. At room temperature the polymer aggregates were redissolved with a small amount of polar solvent. The resulting solution was succ...