An easily water-compatible hypercrosslinked resin HJ-1 was developed for adsorbing catechol and resorcinol in aqueous solution in this study. Its adsorption performances for catechol and resorcinol were investigated in aqueous solution by using the commercial Amberlite XAD-4 as a reference. The adsorption dynamic curves were measured and the adsorption obeyed the pseudo-second-order rate equation of Boyer and Hsu. The adsorption isotherms were scaled and Freundlich isotherm model characterized the adsorption better. The adsorption thermodynamic parameters were calculated and the adsorption was an exothermic, favorable, and more ordered process. The fact that the adsorption capacity of catechol was larger than resorcinol and the adsorption enthalpy of catechol was more negative than resorcinol can be explained in terms of the solubility and the polarity of two adsorbates. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.