Catalytic activity of several graphene and diamond-based carbon nano materials was compared in the reaction of the 1,2-dichloroethane (DCE) conversion using the impulse micro catalytic method. Only nano diamonds and Ni-doped nano diamonds were active in the reaction. A comparison of XRD, XPS, DRIFTS,and BET studies suggested that nitrogen or oxygen-containing groups could be responsible for the catalytic activity in the DCE reaction. However, nitrogen-doped carbon nano flakes, which contain much more nitrogen-containing groups, showed no activity in the DCE conversion; hence, it is unlikely that nitrogen-containing groups of nano diamond surface are active centers in DCE conversion. The role of oxygen-containing groups was studied in a test reaction of 2-propanol dehydrogenation/dehydration –both nano tubes and nano diamonds were active in the reaction; however, no activity of carbon nano tubesin the DCE conversion suggests that oxygen-containing groups are not active in the DCE conversion. Asa result, we suggest that the carbon surface of nano diamonds might be catalytically active in the DCE reaction.