This work reports the first rotational bands observed in the neutron-deficient nucleus $$^{231}$$
231
U. Excited states were populated in the $$^{232}$$
232
Th($$\alpha $$
α
,5n) reaction at a beam energy of 52 MeV. Coincident decay $$\gamma $$
γ
-rays were measured with the high-purity germanium detectors of the afrodite spectrometer array, in conjunction with a recoil detector to discriminate against the fission background. The bands are interpreted as the ground-state band $$\nu [633]5/2^{+}$$
ν
[
633
]
5
/
2
+
, yrast band $$\nu [752]5/2^{-}$$
ν
[
752
]
5
/
2
-
, and an excited band $$\nu [631]3/2^{+}$$
ν
[
631
]
3
/
2
+
. Configuration assignments are supported by Cranked Shell Model and B(M1)/B(E2) calculations. The excitation energy of the $$\nu [752]5/2^{-}$$
ν
[
752
]
5
/
2
-
bandhead is suggested to be 113.0 keV.