The chemical modification of cotton is performed by successive reactions with thionyl chloride followed by ethylene diamine (ED) to prepare aminoalkyl amino cotton namely ED-cotton. Evidence of attaching ethylene diamine groups onto cotton is provided by nitrogen determination and thermogravimetry analysis. Because of complexation, the ethylene diamine-grafted groups immobilizes Cu(II) ions from buffered solution at pH 6. The formation of a 1/1 complex is assessed by the adsorption limit values. The binary system [Cu(II)/ED-cotton] is then tested for the adsorption of two acid dyes (Acid Blue 25 and Calmagite) as ligands in the metal-coordinating process. The adsorption of Cu(II) onto ED-cotton and of the dyes onto Cu(II)/ED-cotton is followed spectrometrically. The observed stoichiometries of the ternary-formed complex [Dye/Cu(II)/ED-cotton] are 1/1/1 with Acid Blue 25 and 0.75/1/1 with Calmagite at 20 C. The Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms constants for the adsorption of the tested dyes onto Cu(II)/ED-cotton are evaluated from the experimental data, but better agreement is obtained by using the composite isotherm of Jossens. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.