It has been reported that natural cellulose(celluloseⅠ) can not be oxidized by TEMPO - NaOCl -NaBr system, one of TEMPO-mediated selective oxidantsystems, but regenerated cellulose(cellulose Ⅰ)can becompletely selectively oxidized. In the present work,natural cellulose pulp was treated with NaOH solution,which concentration is lower than 20 wt%. The alkalinecelluloses obtained were oxidized by TEMPO - NaOCl -NaBr system and the factors which influence the selectiveoxidation reaction rate have been investigated. Thestructure of the oxidized products has been characterizedby Fourier transform-infrared(FTIR), nuclear magenaticresonace(NMR) and wide angle X-ray diffraction(WAXD) methods, and their adsorption properties forCu2+ and Cd2+ in aqueous solutions have beenpreliminarily examined. The results show that after thealkaline treatment, the primary hydroxyl at C6 position ofnatural cellulose can be selectively oxidized to carboxylgroup in the reaction medium at pH 10.8, the oxidationrate becomes greater with the NaOH concentration andalkaline treatment time increasing. The alkaline treatmenthas a great effect on the crystal structure of naturalcellulose, but the crystal structure of alkaline cellulosekeeps almost unchanged after oxidation. The adsorptioncapacity is enhanced by introducing carboxyl groups intothe cellulose macromolecular chains.