Different types of carbon nanotubes (CNTs), including multi-walled CNTs, single-walled CNTs bundles, isolated single- or double-walled CNTs and nano-bamboo structured CNTs, were used as the templates to synthesize SiC and BN one-dimensional nanostructures within the framework of high-temperature CNTs-template reaction. We found that the structures of SiC and BN products weakly depend on the topology of the used CNTs. BN can completely maintain the starting topology of CNTs, while the hollow CNTs collapsed to SiC nanowires with solid interiors. The involved reaction mechanisms were discussed based on TEM observations for the products synthesized from the different reaction sources. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.