Detonation nanodiamonds with a particle size of 5 nm and a carboxylated surface are easily modified by doubly charged copper ions to form copper chelate complexes. The concentration of copper complexes in a dry powder of such nanodiamonds is well monitored by the method of electron paramagnetic resonance, both by the signal width of intrinsic paramagnetic centers in nanodiamonds and by the signal shape for the surface Cu2+ ions themselves, including the set of hyperfine splitting lines for the parallel component and the line with an unresolved hyperfine structure for the perpendicular component.