High-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) characteristics of three position isomers of aminobenzoic acids (potential metabolites of important anesthetic drugs), were delineated with respect to their interactions with various mobile phases and stationary phases. HPLC with five hydrocarbonaceous phase, I?-cyclodextrin silica (CDS), macrophase MP-1 polymer (MP), macroporous polystyrene/divinylbenzene (MPD), octadecylsilica (ODS), and propylphenylsilica (PPS), yielded results explicable in terms of substituent effects derived from the bifunctional amino- and carboxy groups. For cases where mobile phases contained sulfonates or quaternary ammonium salts both having longer chain alkyls, retention of analytes on all but CDS appeared to proceed predominantly via an ion-pairing mechanism. The extent of the corresponding counter-ion effects decreased in the order: MPD > ODS > PPS > MP, while the analyte retention order paralleled thier pH₂ values. On the other hand, an inverse relationship between the magnitude of capacity factors (k') and pK₁ values of the title compounds was observed in experiments that produced retention data incompatible with ion-pair interaction rationales. The unique HPLC results obtained with the CDS phase are compared with those obtained with other phases.