Samples of water and sediment were collected in Wuhan section of the Yangtze River in high and low water periods. Concentrations, distribution and transitions of Phthalic Acid Esters (PAEs) between water and sediment phases in Wuhan section were assessed. Results demonstrated that di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP) and di-(2-ethythexyl) phthalate (DEHP) were the main pollutants among five studied PAEs, exceeding the Surface Water Quality Criteria of China in 82.4% of the studied water samples. For water phase, PAE concentrations in the main stream were 0.034-0.456 and 35.73-91.22 mu g/L in high and low water periods, respectively; for sediment phase, PAE concentrations in the main stream were 151.7-450.0 and 76.3-275.9 mu g/g in high and low water periods, respectively. The calculated Koc (organic carbon content normalized sorption coefficients) values in each sampling site indicated that DBP and DEHP had similar potentials to transfer between water and sediment phases in two samplings. PAEs in water and sediment phases of Wuhan section were similar to Velino River of Italy and the middle and lower Yellow River of China in comparison with kinds of water bodies all around the world. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.