The adsorption characteristics and surface energetics of hydrophobically modified MCC have been investigated by the inverse gas chromatography technique at infinite dilution. The thermodynamic parameters of adsorption, ΔG, ΔH and ΔS, for n-alkanes were determined at infinite dilution. Heats of adsoption of the n-alkanes increased as the level of hydrophobic modification increased. The hydrophobically modified MCC also showed greater entropy of adsorption indicating restricted mobility of the adsorbed n-alkanes. The acid/base characteristics of the MCC were evaluated using polar probes. As the hydrophobicity of MCC increased, the basisity of the MCC decreased.