diff --git a/interfaces/cython/cantera/ck2yaml.py b/interfaces/cython/cantera/ck2yaml.py
index 425efd571df..582951f39d5 100644
--- a/interfaces/cython/cantera/ck2yaml.py
+++ b/interfaces/cython/cantera/ck2yaml.py
@@ -16,8 +16,6 @@
             [--bibtex=<filename>]
             [--output=<filename>]
             [--permissive]
-            [--quiet]
-            [--no-validate]
             [-d | --debug]
 
 Example:
@@ -35,9 +33,9 @@
 'surface'.
 
 The '--permissive' option allows certain recoverable parsing errors (e.g.
-duplicate transport data) to be ignored. Further, the '--name=<name>' option 
-is used to override default phase names (i.e. 'gas'). The '--bibtex=<filename>' 
-option attaches references to the yaml output, where fields are based on BibTeX 
+duplicate transport data) to be ignored. Further, the '--name=<name>' option
+is used to override default phase names (i.e. 'gas'). The '--bibtex=<filename>'
+option attaches references to the yaml output, where fields are based on BibTeX
 style input.
 """
 
@@ -1338,32 +1336,50 @@ def load_bibtex_file(self, path):
         """
         Load and separate BibTeX-formatted entries from ``path`` on disk.
         """
-        with open(path, 'r', errors='ignore') as bib_file:
+        def parsecitation(entry):
+            # split entry into tagged key/value blocks and retrieve entry type
+            blocks = '\n'.join([e.strip() for e in entry[1:]]).rstrip('}\n ').split(',\n')
+            out = {'entry_type': entry[0].split('{')[0].strip(' ').lower()}
+
+            for block in blocks:
+                # retrieve key
+                parts = block.split('=')
+                key = parts[0].strip().lower()
+                block = '='.join(parts[1:])
+                # build value
+                value = []
+                for t in block.split('\n'):
+                    value.append(' '.join([v.strip(' "{}') for v in t.split('#')]))
+
+                out[key] = value if len(value) > 1 else value[0]
+            return out
+
+        def readcitation(bib_file):
+            entry = []
+            count = 0
+            while not(entry) or count > 0:
+                line = strip_nonascii(bib_file.readline()).rstrip()
+                count += line.count('{') - line.count('}')
+                count -= line.count('\{') - line.count('\}')
+                entry.append(line)
+                if line == "":
+                    break
 
-            def readcitation():
-                block = []
-                count = 0
-                while not(block) or count > 0:
-                    line = strip_nonascii(bib_file.readline()).rstrip()
-                    count += line.count('{') - line.count('}')
-                    count -= line.count('\{') - line.count('\}')
-                    block.append(line)
-                    if line == "":
-                        break
-
-                if block[0]:
-                    regex = r"^@+([a-zA-z]+){+(\w+)[ ,]"
-                    bib = re.findall(regex, block[0].strip())
-                    if bib and block[-1].rstrip()[-1] == '}' and count == 0:
-                        return bib[0][1], block
-                    else:
-                        raise InputError("Encountered invalid syntax in "
-                            "BibTeX entry:\n{}".format('\n'.join(block)))
+            if entry[0]:
+                regex = r"^@+([a-zA-z]+){+(\w+)[ ,]"
+                bib = re.findall(regex, entry[0].strip())
+                if bib and entry[-1].rstrip()[-1] == '}' and count == 0:
+                    return bib[0][1], parsecitation(entry)
                 else:
-                    return None, None
+                    raise InputError("Encountered invalid syntax in "
+                        "BibTeX entry:\n{}".format('\n'.join(entry)))
+            else:
+                return None, None
+
+        with open(path, 'r', errors='ignore') as bib_file:
 
             while True:
-                label, entry = readcitation()
+                label, entry = readcitation(bib_file)
                 if label is not None:
                     self.bibtex[label] = entry
                 else:
@@ -1888,18 +1904,24 @@ def write_yaml(self, name='gas', out_name='mech.yaml'):
 
             # bibtex entries
             if self.bibtex:
-                entries = []
+                entries = BlockMap()
                 for key, val in self.bibtex.items():
-                    desc = '\n'.join(val)
-                    desc = yaml.scalarstring.PreservedScalarString(desc)
-                    entries.append((key, desc))
-                bib = BlockMap([('references', BlockMap(entries))])
+                    tags = []
+                    comment = val.pop('entry_type')
+                    for k, v in val.items():
+                        if isinstance(v, list):
+                            desc = '\n'.join(v)
+                            desc = yaml.scalarstring.PreservedScalarString(desc)
+                        elif v.isdigit():
+                            desc = int(v)
+                        else:
+                            desc = v
+                        tags.append((k, desc))
+                    entries[key] = BlockMap(tags)
+                    entries.yaml_add_eol_comment(comment, key)
+                bib = BlockMap([('references', entries)])
                 if desc.strip():
-                    bib.yaml_set_comment_before_after_key(
-                        'references',
-                        before='\n',
-                        after='references use BibTeX format'
-                    )
+                    bib.yaml_set_comment_before_after_key('references', before='\n')
                 emitter.dump(bib, dest)
 
             # Additional information regarding conversion