A novel class of amine-supported sorbents based on amine-bridged mesoporous polysilsesquioxane was developed via a simple one-pot sol-gel process. The new sorbent allows the incorporation of a large amount of active groups without sacrificing surface area or pore volume available for CO2 capture, leading to a CO2 capture capacity of 3.2 mmol g−1 under simulated flue gas conditions. The sorbent is readily regenerated at 100°C and exhibits good stability over repetitive adsorption-desorption cycling. © 2011 Society of Chemical Industry and John Wiley & Sons, Ltd