Abstract: Solidstate pyrolysis of iron phthalocyanine in a sealed system was investigated for the preparation of carbon with novel nanostructures. Straight and highly aligned carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were obtained in bulk quantity. Higher temperatures (＞800℃) were beneficial to improve the growth of CNTs. By this procedure, long nanocables having an iron carbide core and a graphitic shell were fabricated. Carbon nanostructures with necklacelike and tubeintube architectures were prepared using this method.