Abstract: The method for the quantitative analysis of eight phthalic acid esters in freshwater shellfish was established by high performance liquid chromatography. The samples were extracted by hexane and dichloromethane (1∶1) and separated by an Agela venusil XBP-C18 column with the column temperature of25℃. The mobile phase was composed of methanol and water, and used with gradient elution at the flow rate of 1.0mL/min. The UV detection wavelength was 230 nm. The separation of eight phthalic acid esters was good.The standard curves were linear in the range from 0.5 to 50μg/mL, with the limits of detection ranging from0.2μg/mL to 0.5μg/mL. The additional standard recoveries of the method were in the range from 91.06%~107.23%, and the relative standard deviation from 0.34% to 3.67%. The proposed method could be applied to the determination of phthalic acid esters in shellfish.