**1. Introduction**

There is a huge variety of phenolic compounds in our natural environment. Some like eugenol, thymol, pyrogallol, guaiacol or pyrocatechol are formed in natural way, but a vast majority of them are introduced as a consequence of industrial, agricultural and communal activities of humans. While the former are neutralized as the result of natural processes, the latter pose a serious risk to the environment.

Quantitative isolation of phenol and its derivatives from environmental matrices is usually difficult because of considerably different properties and low concentration. It was a stimulus to development of research on process of sorption and search for efficient sorptive materials.

This chapter is devoted to review of current state of knowledge on sorption process of phenolic compounds. Many different types of sorbents are used for phenols in chromatographic columns and solid phase extraction devices. Their efficiency is diverse and depends on many factors. As the most important chemical structure of adsorbate, a type of sorbent and its porosity as well as properties of solvent (or eluent) should be mentioned. Also other properties such as pH, temperature and presence of oxygen influence the process. For this reason, sorption of phenols is a very complex phenomenon. Although many researchers try to explain the mechanism of interaction of phenols with adsorbents, it is still an open problem.

Many groups of researchers tried to solve it using different scientific methods, for example, chromatography [1, 2], spectroscopy (UV, mass spectrometry [MS], Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy [FTIR]) [3–5], thermal analysis [6], and computer simulations [7]. Based on the obtained results, some authors proposed explanations of phenomena and mechanisms accompanying the sorption of phenol. Understanding the mechanism is important from scientific point of view. Elucidation of this process is essential for reasons of utility and finding an answer to the questions how to improve efficiency of sorption phenolic compounds in the processes of aqueous environment remediation. Effective removal of these species from industrial and urban waste water helps to protect aquatic ecosystem from toxic impact of phenols on the living organisms, which is an important aim all over the world.
