The study was performed on inertinite concentrates prepared from 19 samples of bituminous, mostly coking, coal (R(r) = 0.87-1.42%) from the Upper Silesian Coal Basin of Poland. In all examined samples, total semifusinite differs from fusinite, in terms of mean values, by higher frequencies of the D1 and D4 band position and lower frequency of the D3 band position, higher G band FWHM, the A(D3)/A(ALL) and A(D4)/A(ALL) ratios (where A(ALL) means the surface of all the Raman bands), and lower D1 band FWHM, the I(D1)/I(G) and A(D1)/A(ALL) ratios. Similar differences exist between reactive and non-reactive semifusinites. The diameter of coherent domains (L(a)) increases in the following sequence: reactive semifusinite= 0.35, or the I(D1)/I(G) ratio <= 1.03. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.