AbstractA survey of novel classes of nanotubular materials based on boron is presented. Pure boron nanotubes are a consequence of a general Aufbau principle for boron clusters and solid boron phases, which postulates various novel boron materials besides the well‐known bulk phases of boron based on boron icosahedra. Furthermore, several numerical studies suggest the existence of a large family of compound nanotubular materials derived from crystalline AlB2. We compare these novel boron‐based nanotubular materials to standard nanotubular systems built from carbon, and point out a number of remarkable structural and electronic properties that make boron‐based nanotubular materials an ideal component for composite nanodevices and extended nanotubular networks.