  Effective low-energy Hamiltonian of interacting electrons in conducting
single-wall carbon nanotubes with arbitrary chirality is derived from the
microscopic lattice model. The parameters of the Hamiltonian show very weak
dependence on the chiral angle, which makes the low energy properties of
conducting chiral nanotubes universal. The strongest Mott-like electron
instability at half filling is investigated within the self-consistent harmonic
approximation. The energy gaps occur in all modes of elementary excitations and
estimate at $0.01-0.1$ eV.
