Comparative analysis of cellulose preparation techniques for use with 13C, 14C, and 18O isotopic measurements

A number of operationally defined methods exist for pretreating plant tissues in order to measure C, N, and O isotopes. Because these isotope measurements are used to infer information about environmental conditions that existed at the time of tissue growth, it is important that these pretreatments remove compounds that may have exchanged isotopes or have been synthesized after the original formation of these tissues. In stable isotope studies, many pretreatment methods focus on isolating “cellulose” from the bulk tissue sample because cellulose does not exchange C and O isotopes after original synthesis. We investigated the efficacy of three commonly applied pretreatment methods, the Brendel method and two variants of the Brendel method, the Jayme−Wise method and successive acid/base/acid washes, for use on three tissue types (wood, leaves, roots). We then compared the effect of each method on C and O isotope composition (13C, 14C, 18O), C and N content, and chemical composition of the residue produced (...