We recently studied the uptake of alkanes and alcohols 1 and cycloalkanes and bicyclic aromatic compounds 2 by ionexchange resins from aqueous solutions and demonstrated that the uptake is governed by partition rather than adsorption. We showed that the hydrophobic interaction plays an important role and that the π interaction of aromatic rings with the resin matrix contributes to solute uptake by the resin. This paper deals with benzene and alkylbenzenes. These substances have been chosen because they have both aliphatic and aromatic characteristics.The octanol-water partition coefficient (Kow), which is a measure of hydrophobicity, varies over a wide range for alkylbenzenes, and hence, it is convenient to compare the Kow values and the solute distribution constant (K). The present work is also concerned with benzene. Studying this basic substance is important to understand the uptake mechanism of ion-exchange resins. Chromatographic studies have revealed that anion-exchange resins hold cyclohexane much more strongly than benzene, which makes one conclude that π-electron interactions with the resin matrix are less important than the hydrophobic interaction. 3