Patent ID: 7358318

Claim:
A polymeric product comprising: a copolymer of formula (I) wherein R 1 is independently H, an alkyl group having from 1 to 5 carbon atoms, R 2 is independently H or an alkyl group having from 1 to 5 carbon atoms; R 3 is independently R 2 , R 4 is a functional group with metal ion adsorption activity that has the structure wherein a is an integer from 1 to 5 and X is with W being sulfur or oxygen, and G being hydrogen or an alkyl group having from 1 to 5 carbon atoms, or the structure wherein b is an integer from 0 to 5, c is an integer from 1 to 5 and Y′ and Y″ are different and each is NH 2 or OH; R 5 is independently R 2 or n is an integer greater than 10 and m is an integer greater than 1; and wherein the polymeric product is characterized by clustering of the functional groups having adsorption activity as dimers, trimers, or higher oligomers integrated into the polymeric product.