The heterogeneous kinetics of the catalytic bromination of anthracene (C14H10) on silica gel has been investigated in situ as a function of temperature in a static mode using a dual beam absorptiospectrophotometer and a spectrofluorophotometer. The surface of the silica gel was treated by Br-2 diluted to CCl4 solvent. Adsorption rate of the reactants or the products of the reaction on pure silica gel surfaces, and a liquid phase bromination reaction of the reactants were very slow compared to the overall kinetics measured. The reactions were studied under first-order conditions. Anthracene was brominated catalytically fast to produce 9-bromoanthracene as the only aromatic product of the reaction. Arrhenius activation energy of the 9-bromoanthracene formation was determined to be 50.33 +/- 0.23 kJ mol(-1) at temperature range from 294 to 345 K. Furthermore, 9-bromoanthracene was brominated catalytically relatively fast to produce 9, 10-dibromoanthracene, which was not possible brominate any further at the experimental conditions used. The rate of the 9-bromoanthracene formation was by a factor of 4.2 +/- 12.8 higher than that of the 9,10-dibromoanthracene formation. The kinetics of the substitution reactions were investigated by measuring the increase of the 9-bromoanthracene absorption signal at 392 nm or the 9, 10-dibromoanthracene absorption signal at 405 nm, or the decrease of the anthracene fluorescence signal at 386 nm or the 9-bromoanthracene fluorescence signal at 397 nm. The heat of the overall bromination reaction of the anthracene to yield the 9-bromoanthracene was measured calorimetrically to be -59.1 +/- 2.4 kJ mol(-1) at 293.6 +/- 0.8 K. (c) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.