As a large group of persistent organic pollutants, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) commonly coexist with chlorinated organic compounds in industrial wastewater. Preferential adsorption of PAHs from wastewater and final effluent is essential in pretreatment processes. In this study, a novel nitrogen-doped mesoporous carbon (NMC) with high surface area (2130 m(2)/g) and bimodal pore size distribution (similar to 2 and similar to 9.4 nm) was synthesized via a solvent evaporation induced self-assembly process using task-specific ionic liquid (TSIL) as the nitrogen source. The selective adsorption of naphthalene (NAP) with pentachlorophenol (PCP) on NMC in aqueous solution was investigated compared with conventional ordered mesoporous carbon (OMC). Kinetic studies revealed that the NAP adsorption process achieved equilibrium within 5 min and followed a pseudo-second-order rate equation. The adsorption capacity of NMC for NAP was 3.2 mmol/g, which was about 13 times that for PCP at pH 10 in a bi-solute system. The equilibrium adsorption of NAP onto NMC in single- and bi-solute system could be well described by the Freundlich isotherm model. The higher adsorption capacity and selectivity of NMC for NAP compared with OMC was ascribed to its unique bimodal pore system and pi-pi dispersive interactions. Our research also provided a new methodology for the synthesis of N-doped mesoporous carbon materials based on TSILs.