The experimental design and response surface methodologies were used for the synthesis and characterization of eight chemically activated carbons produced from the bamboo species Guadua amplexifolia. The synthetic method was performed following a fractional factorial design having as factors for the activation temperature and time, carbonization temperature and chemical activation agent. Experimental results showed production yields ranging from 1.5 to 24.5%, average point of zero charge of 1.5 and 10.3, adsorption capacity as high as 1872 mg of iodine/g of activated carbon and high content of carboxylic and lactones surface groups. According to the statistical analysis obtained from the analysis of variance, the activation agents (H3PO4 and NaOH) played the most significant roles in the physicochemical properties. In addition, the use of the response surface plots proposes the routes to enhance the physicochemical characteristics obtained in the present work. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.