The adsorption of dioxin-modeling compounds on activated carbon has been investigated in this manuscript. A series of benzene compounds with different numbers and types of substituent groups were chosen as the dioxin-modeling compounds, and the gas adsorption behaviors were evaluated using a fixed-bed reactor. The adsorption results showed that the methyl, chlorine and phenolic substituent groups on a benzene ring can greatly promote gas adsorption, especially the phenolic group, the addition of which increased the adsorption capacity to more than 1.5 times that of benzene. The adsorbed AC samples were detected by TPD-MS with the combines between adsorbate and adsorbent analyzed, the methyl and chlorine groups enhanced the attraction between the gaseous compounds and AC, while the phenolic group reduced the combine force due to its oxidation on AC. The effect of an increasing number of chlorine substituents on the adsorption of gases and the combine forces were investigated. On average, the capacity of gas adsorption doubled and the desorption temperature increased by 20 K with one chlorine substituent on a benzene ring. The attachment of chlorine substituent groups to the AC lactone and quinone groups has been verified again, and the increasing chloric substituent groups consumed more oxygen groups. According to the linear relationships between gas properties and adsorption behaviors, the actual dioxin adsorption capacity has been inferred to be 600 mg/g or greater, showing that dioxin is much more easily adsorbed on AC than the conventional organic gases. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.