The IR and Raman spectra of the bromofullerene C60Br24 were thoroughly studied and assigned on the base of Hartree-Fock ab initio calculations. A complete interpretation of the spectra is proposed within a conventional potential energy distribution analysis as well as employing the projection technique to follow the genetic relationships of the carbon cage vibrations in C60Br24 molecule with those in parent C-60. Such analysis has shown that the vast majority of bromofullerene vibrations could be regarded as the vibrations of its carbon skeleton stringed inside a motionless sphere of bromine atoms. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.