A hydrophilic polysaccharide matrix of guaran has been used for the preparation of some new chelating resins, i.e. glycine hydroxamate in guaran (GH-G), acetic acid hydroxamate in guaran (AAH-G) and iminodiacetic acid dihydroxamate in guaran (IDAAH-G) after its crosslinking with epichlorohydrin. Various physico-chemical characteristics of the synthesised resins are studied. The distribution coefficient values of different metal ions, namely Fe(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II), Zn(II), Ca(II), U(VI) and W(VI) on these resins are given as a function of pH. By using IDAAH-G resin in a column mode of operation, copper-calcium and iron-cobalt separations are quantitatively achieved at pH 5 and 5.5, respectively. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.