Meso- and microporous nitrogen-containing carbons, characterized by homogeneous meso- (V = 1.00 cm(3)/g, D = 3.5 nm) and microporous (V up to 0.26 cm(3)/g, D a parts per thousand 0.5 nm) structure, and the presence of basic groups (up to 1.7 mmol/g) were obtained by matrix and bulk carbonization of sucrose in the presence of melamine or urea. It is shown that obtained N-containing microporous carbons possess good interfacial capacitance (0.21 F/m(2)) and they are characterized with stability during repeated charge-discharge cycles. Synthesized N-containing nanoporous carbons show higher adsorption of carbon dioxide (up to 6.3 mmol/g at -20 degrees C) than the samples without nitrogen (up to 3.9 mmol/g at -20 degrees C).