A series of ethanediamine (EDA) - modified magnetic poly-(glycidyl methacrylate) (m-PGMA-EDA) microspheres with different amine density were synthesized and their cadmium saturation adsorption capacities were examined. The results showed that the cadmium saturation adsorption capacity increased with the immobilized amine density. However, they did not show strong positive linear correlation in the whole range of amine density examined. The molar ratio of amine groups to the adsorbed cadmium decreased with the increase of amine density and eventually reached a minimum value about 4. It suggested that low immobilized amine density led to low coordination efficiency of the amine. It is hypothesized that the immobilized amine groups needed to be physically close enough to form stable amine-metal complex. When the amine density reached to a critical value 1.25 m mol m(-2), stable amine-cadmium complex (4: 1 N/Cd) was proposed to form. To illustrate the coordination mechanism (structure and number) of amine and Cd, FT-IR spectra of m-PGMA-EDA and m-PGMA- EDA-Cd, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) of PGMA-EDA and PGMA-EDA-Cd were examined and analyzed.