properties of coarse-grain preparations of activated carbon were tested by inverse gas chromatography. Tert-butylbenzene adsorbed on preparations was desorbed with use of the carbon dioxide supercritical extraction process. The relationship between the quantity of desorbed tert-butylbenzene and parameters characterizing the porous structure of carbon was stated. It has been showed that quick comparative studies of coarse-grain preparations of activated carbon can be carried out by chromatographic methods.