This work describes the preparation of new chelating materials derived from sugarcane bagasse for adsorption of heavy metal ions in aqueous solution. The first part of this report deals with the chemical modification of sugarcane bagasse with succinic anhydride. The carboxylic acid functions introduced into the material were used to anchor polyamines, which resulted in two yet unpublished modified sugarcane bagasse materials. The obtained materials were characterized by elemental analysis and infrared spectroscopy (IR). The second part of this reports features the comparative evaluation of the adsorption capacity of the modified sugarcane bagasse materials for Cu2+. Cd2+, and Pb2+ ions in aqueous single metal solution by classical titration. Adsorption isotherms were studied by the Freundlich and Langmuir models. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.