Instead of traditional polymer precursors and complex procedures, easily prepared and widely obtainable nitrogen-containing protic ionic liquids and salts were explored as novel, small-molecule precursors to prepare carbon materials (CMs) via direct carbonization without other treatments. Depending on the precursor structure, the resultant CMs can be readily obtained with a relative yield of up to 95.3%, a high specific surface area of up to 1380 m(2)/g, or a high N content of up to 11.1 wt%, as well as a high degree of graphitization and high conductivity (even higher than that of graphite). One of the carbons, which possesses a high surface area and a high content of pyridinic N, exhibits excellent electrocatalytic activity toward the oxygen reduction reaction in an alkaline medium, as revealed by an onset potential, half-wave potential, and kinetic current density comparable to those of commercial 20 wt% Pt/C. These low-cost and versatile precursors are expected to be important building blocks for CMs.