4-coumarate: CoA ligase (4CL) plays an important regulatory role in the phenylaprapanoid metabolism. In this study, 11 4CL genes named Ib4CL1- Ib4CL11 were identified in Ipomoea batatas based on transcriptome data. The results of sequence alignment and functional domain analysis showed that all Ib4CL had typical 4CL structural feature, containing the conserved Box I and Box II domains. Evolutionary and conserved motif analysis suggested that Ib4CL1 and Ib4CL2 belong to Class I, Ib4CL3 belongs to ClassII, and Ib4CL4- Ib4CL11 belong to 4CL-like proteins.Expression analysis showed that the expression of Ib4CL3 and Ib4CL10 in leaves was significantly higher than that in stems and roots, which were positively related to the accumulation of chlorogenic acid; Ib4CL4 and Ib4CL8 were higher expressed in young leaves, closely related to the accumulation of anthocyanins. Gene expression results showed that that Ib4CL3and Ib4CL10, Ib4CL4 and Ib4CL8 may be involved in the biosynthesis of chlorogenic acid and anthocyanins in sweet potato. The results laid the foundation for further revealing possible function of 4CL genes in phenylaprapanoid metabolism of sweet potato.