The selectivity of ozone in the delignification of unbleached pine and eucalyptus kraft pulps is studied at ultralow consistency in a stirred reactor under closely controlled experimental conditions. The effect of several operating variables is analyzed, but special attention is paid to the depolymerization rate of polysaccharides with the particular goal of evaluating the influence of the lignin contents on its kinetics. By using substantially different ozone concentrations in the pulp suspension and different reaction temperatures, it is possible to show that ozone selectivity can only be slightly improved by manipulating these operating variables. Furthermore, for the same type of material, it was observed that the initial rate of delignification plays the most important role on selectivity. In fact, for a given pulp, selectivity decreases with a decrease of the initial lignin contents, and such results can be well justified by the corresponding reduction of the initial rates of delignification. To further investigate the effect of lignin on pulp degradation, experiments were carried out, at 4 degrees C between ozone and holocellulose, which represent the polysaccharides of the unbleached pulps. The results suggest that molecular ozone can be responsible for an important part, of the polysaccharides depolymerization during the delignification process. Moreover, the comparison of the kinetic behavior of holocellulose and of the corresponding unbleached pulp also reveals that the presence of lignin in the pulp enhances both the depolymerization and the degradation rates of polysaccharides.