Oximes are commonly used as ligands and sequestering agents for metal ions. Dimethylglyoxime (dmgH) is a reagent for the analysis of nickel and a popular ligand in its own right. In the typical reaction, a metal reacts with two equivalents of dmgH concomitant with ionization of one proton. Salicylaldoxime is a chelator in hydrometallurgy.
Amidoximes such as polyacrylamidoxime can be used to capture trace amounts of uranium from sea water. In 2017 researchers announced a configuration that absorbed up to nine times as much uranyl as previous fibers without saturating.