Three pitches derived from anthracene oils have been characterised in order to determine the effects of oxidative stabilisation by air blowing treatments of variable duration. From 6 to 12h, significant changes are observed in both the morphological properties and the electrochemical behaviour as active materials in lithium test batteries. Continued oxidative treatment beyond 12h led to high oxygen absorption resulting in less layered morphologies, highly irreversible capacities in the first cycle and low reversible capacities on subsequent cycling. Therefore, the beneficial effect of oxidative stabilisation requires a control of the annealing time to avoid an extended oxygen absorption and consequently a lower electrochemical efficiency of the carbon material when used as electrode in lithium batteries. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.