Changes in the structure of plasticized high, medium, and low volatile bituminous coals caused by dichloromethane extraction were studied using an X-ray method of quantitative phase analysis. The FT-IR and GC-MS methods were used to investigate the differences in composition of the dichloromethane soluble material from the coals studied. It was stated that the removal of dichloromethane soluble material leads to an increase in the amount of the crystallite phase. The contribution of hydrogen bonds and aromatic ring stretching in formation of bands on the FT-IR spectra of the extracts from plasticized coals increases but the contribution of the C=O bonds decreases. The ratio of the amount of selected PAHs in extracts of plasticized high, medium, and low volatile bituminous coals to the amount of the same PAHs in extracts of raw coals is 5.7, 20.9, and 0.6 correspondingly. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.