An assay method for aromatic amines in oil shale retort waters was developed. an aromatic amine fraction is first isolated by selective adsorption upon and desorption from X AD-8 resing this fraction is next liquid chromatographed on a reverse phase C-8 silica column. The best peak resolution was obtained with a 5 um particle size packing, and inclusion of a Na H2 PO4 buffer in the mobile phase.