Amine solvents have long been used by industry as absorbents for acid gas (CO2, H2S) removal and are the current technology of choice for post-combustion carbon capture from fossil fuel power plants. However, these technologies are energy intensive and have a number of short comings. In an effort to reduce the capital cost and energy penalty of carbon capture alternative technologies are being explored, of which solid sorbents have shown good potential. Adsorbents containing basic nitrogen functional groups to increase adsorbent / adsorbate interaction have been demonstrated to be effective for post-combustion capture. These materials are usually synthesised by the impregnation of basic amine polymers or bonding of amine groups to the surface of inorganic porous substrates. In this work the development of a range of novel high nitrogen content activated carbon adsorbents will be described. The aim of this research is to introduce basic nitrogen directly into the matrix of activated carbon to yield high capacity adsorbents with high thermal stability in terms of volatile and thermal loss of nitrogen.