Abstract: The VGO fraction (360~480℃) of middle/low temperature coal tar was prepared by vacuum distillation. The fractions were extracted by heptane solution to isolate the soluble components that were further separated into four components by column chromatographic separation method using silica gel as adsorbent. Petroleum ether, toluene, ethanol, toluene, ethanol for lotion were used. The best column chromatography conditions were determined by contrasting the recovery ratio, difficulty of component flushing and the split points of elution experiments. Furthermore, the components were identified by means of NMR and elements or molecular weight determination. The results reveal that the contents of saturates, aromatics, polar components and C7-asphaltene in VGO fraction were 13.28%, 36.10%, 33.15%, 18.21%, respectively and 6.00% of VGO fraction is paraffin, 7.25% is cycloparaffin and 36.12% is arene. In addition, the polar components and C7-asphaltene are both constituted by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and large molecule with few short side chains. It is the complexity of these soluble components that is the principal factor for difficulty in the conversion to light fraction of coal tar.