The adsorption behavior of lead (11), zinc (11) and copper (11) on crosslinked pectic and alginic acids, and their amide derivatives form has been investigated. The selectivity order for metal ion uptake is lead (11) > copper (11) > zinc (11). The nature of such acidic polysaccharides for the removal of lead (11) ion was examined through batch wise tests and column tests and compared with that for the commercially available weakly acidic cation exchange DIAION WK resins. The experimental results revealed that chemically modified acidic polysaccharides exhibit much better separation performance compared to the latter, which suggests a high possibility of their applications in the practical separation and purification of lead (11) ion. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.