The objective of this work was to develop an adsorption resin for removing aromatic acid contaminations of aqueous environment.The macroporous polydivinylbenzene/poly(methyl acrylate) interpenetrating polymer network was prepared by sequential suspension polymerization method; it was then converted to the hydrophobichydrophilic macroporous polydivinylbenzene/poly(N-2-aminoethylacrylamide) interpenetrating polymer network (PDVB/PNAEAM IPN) by aminolysis with ethylenediamine.The hydrophobic PDVB part in PDVB/PNAEAM IPN resin has the ability of adsorption through hydrophobic interaction; on the other hand the hydrophilic PNAEAM part has the ability of adsorption by means of hydrogen bonding.For the adsorption studies salicylic acid was chosen as the representative of aromatic acids

because there is a hydrophobic benzene ring and a hydrophilic hydroxyl group in the molecule.The pore structure

the weak base exchange capacity

the water retention capacity and the swelling ratio of PDVB/PNAEAM IPN resin were measured.The adsorption isotherms of salicylic acid at different temperatures were studied.Isothermal adsorption enthalpy

Gibbs free energy and entropy were calculated according to thermodynamic equations.The saturated adsorption capacity for salicylic acid was up to 46.1 mg/mL (wet resin) according to the dynamic adsorption and desorption experiments.The resin can be regenerated by 4% NaOH.The results of adsorption for salicylic acid indicate that the PDVB/PNAEAM IPN resin may have a promising prospect in separating aromatic acid from waste water in industry.