A novel method was developed for the indirect determination of thiophene in metal catalysts by ion chromatography(IC) with pyrolysis.After combusted in the high temperature oven,the sulfur of thiophene in catalyst was transformed into SO2 and SO3,and then absorbed and oxidized to SO2-4by absorbing solution containing H2O2.The content of thiophene could be calculated indirectly from the content of SO2-4in the absorbing solution,which was detected by ion chromatography with suppressed conductivity detector.IonPac AS18(4.0 mm×250 mm) and IonPac AG18(4.0 mm×50 mm) columns were used for elution of the analyte with 15 mmol/L KOH as eluent.In the IC detection,the linear relationship for SO2-4was excellent in the range of 2.0-60 mg/L with a correlation coefficient of 0.999 8.The limit of detection(LOD,S/N=3) for SO2-4was 1.42 μg/L,and the LOD and the limit of quantitation(LOQ) for thiophene in metal catalysts were 0.25 μg/g and 182 μg/g,respectively.The recovery for thiophene ranged from 94.7% to 97.8%,with the relative standard deviation(RSD) of 1.5%-2.0%.The novel method is stable,rapid and sensitive,and it provides a new idea for the analysis of thiophene in the chemical production and some organic impurities in solid samples.