We report on the growth of semipolar (11 (2) over bar2) AlN by metal-organic vapor phase epitaxy on (10 (1) over bar0) sapphire. High temperature nitridation and nucleation at a V/III ratio of 1050 provide single phase (11 (2) over bar2) AlN with mirror like crack free surfaces, even for layer thicknesses larger than 1 mu m. Increasing reactor pressure results in lower growth rates because of gas phase particle formation. The in-plane relationship is [0001](sap) parallel to[(11) over bar 23](AlN) and [1 (2) over bar 10](sap) parallel to[1 (1) over bar 00](AlN) and therewith similar to MBE grown AlN and MOVPE and HVPE grown GaN on m-plane sapphire. The (11 (2) over bar2) AlN reflex is anisotropically broadened in XRD. The surface shows an undulation along [1 (1) over bar 00] as typical for (11 (2) over bar2) oriented nitride epilayers. Transmission spectroscopy measurements exhibit a sharp absorption edge at 5.95 eV, which is 130 meV shifted towards lower energies compared to c-plane AIN. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.