Dialdehyde cassava starch (DAS) was prepared and characterized. Polymeric chelating ligands containing 2, 3-diaminopyridine have been prepared from dialdehyde starch, the removal of copper (II), nickel (II) and cadmium (ii) ions from aqueous solutions by dialdehyde 2, 3-diaminopyridine starch (DAS2, 3-DNH2PYR) was investigated. The adsorbent degree of substitution (DS) 0.82 was characterized by solubility test, Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), elemental analysis, and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Batch adsorption has been performed to identify the binding property of metal (ii) ions. The maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 31.1 mg/g for cadmium and nickel, 30mg/g for copper, and removal efficiency was 78%, 77.77% and 75% for cadmium, nickel and copper respectively. Polymeric chelating ligand could therefore be used to remove the metals from aqueous solution.