Summary The Jayme-Wise and diglyme-HCl methods for
extracting cellulose from plant material for stable-isotope analysis
differ considerably in ease of use, with the latter requiring
significantly less time and specialized equipment. However,
the diglyme-HCl method leaves a small lignin residue in the
crude cellulose that may affect stable-isotope values, whereas
α-cellulose produced by the Jayme-Wise method is relatively
pure. We examined whether adding a bleaching step to the
diglyme-HCl method could produce cellulose of comparable
purity to α-cellulose by comparing the yield, percent carbon,
and carbon and oxygen stable isotope ratios of the
two celluloses.We tested each method on thewood of five species
that differ in ease of delignification, Eucalyptus maculata
Hook., E. botryoides Sm., E. resinifera Sm., Pinus pinaster
Ait. and Callitris glaucophylla J. Thompson & L.A.S. Johnson,
as well as the foliage of C. glaucophylla. For hardwoods
such as the eucalypts, the diglyme-HCl method without
bleaching produced cellulose with and ratios similar
to α-cellulose. For the softwood, C. glaucophylla, 3 h of
bleaching with acidified chlorite following treatment with
diglyme-HCl produced cellulose with and ratios
similar to α-cellulose. Bleached and unbleached crude celluloses
and α-cellulose of P. pinaster were similar in but
not . Both types of crude cellulose produced from the foliage
of C. glaucophylla had significantly different isotope ratios
from α-cellulose. Overall, the diglyme-HCl method, with
or without bleaching, appears to be a simple, fast method for
extracting α-cellulose from hardwoods for stable isotope analyses,
but its suitability for softwoods and foliage needs to be
evaluated depending on the species.