The association model for the quantitative description of hydrogen bonding interactions in a solvent-swollen coal is examined. A brown coal was swollen in binary solvents, including different pyridine/benzene and dimethyl sulfoxide/benzene mixtures. The amount of hydroxylic hydrogen remaining immobile (f(IM(OH))) was experimentally determined by using pulsed H-1 NMR technique as a function of the swelling ratio (Q). These observations were theoretically assessed by using the association model. It was found that the model predicts reasonably the effects of the polar solvent on the relationship between f(IM(OH)) and 1/Q.