Nanoporous carbon synthesized via the chlorination of titanium carbide at temperatures above 400 degrees C shows a good performance, e.g. for gas storage or electrochemical applications. In this work the influence of the temperature and of the chlorine concentration on the reaction rate and the development of the porous structure during the course of the reaction was studied. The synthesis follows a Langmuir-Hinshelwood approach regarding chlorine, which can be simplified to a power law rate with the order of 0.71, and the specific surface area is created mainly in the last 10% of conversion. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.