Abstract: Coal spontaneous combustion is one of the common disasters in underground mines. There are many factors that affect the spontaneous combustion of coal. Transition metal ions in coal are one of them. However, the previous research focused more on the effect of metal ion chelating agents on thermodynamics and other aspects. However, there are relatively few studies on the effect of coal spontaneous combustion after transition metal ions in coal form chelates. For the effect of spontaneous combustion, raw coal samples and coal samples with 5% concentration of metal ion chelating agent were prepared. The change of CO gas concentration after adding chelating agent, the effect of chelating agent on pore structure after chelating transition metal ions and the effect of chelating transition metal ions in coal before and after chelating. The content of reactive groups in coal. The results show that the coal samples treated with metal ion chelating agent have a delayed temperature point for the first generation of CO, and the generation amount is less than that of raw coal. The metal ion chelating agent can achieve the effect of inhibiting spontaneous combustion of coal; Metal ions can form chelates linked by coordination bonds. These chelates can reduce the specific surface area, pore and pore volume of coal, and reduce the coal-oxygen recombination reaction. At the same time, the infrared spectrum experiment was analyzed to form chelates. The transition metal ions lose their catalytic ability, and it is difficult to catalyze the conversion reaction of methyl —CH₃, methylene —CH₂- and carboxyl —COOH in coal, so that the functional groups in coal can be difficult to be activated at room temperature, thereby inhibiting the spontaneous combustion of coal. In addition, the organic phosphonic acid type metal ion chelating agent has a better effect on the inhibition of coal spontaneous combustion than the aminocarboxylic acid type chelating agent.