diff --git a/include/cantera/base/ctml.h b/include/cantera/base/ctml.h
index a068852e8..a430501aa 100644
--- a/include/cantera/base/ctml.h
+++ b/include/cantera/base/ctml.h
@@ -895,6 +895,17 @@ void get_CTML_Tree(Cantera::XML_Node* node, const std::string file,
  *  @ingroup inputfiles
  */
 void ct2ctml(const char* file, const int debug = 0);
+
+//! Convert a Chemkin-format mechanism into a CTI file.
+/*!
+ * @param in_file         input file containing species and reactions
+ * @param thermo_file     optional input file containing thermo data
+ * @param transport_file  optional input file containing transport parameters
+ * @param id_tag          id of the phase
+ */
+void ck2cti(const std::string& in_file, const std::string& thermo_file="",
+            const std::string& transport_file="",
+            const std::string& id_tag="gas");
 }
 
 #endif
diff --git a/interfaces/matlab/toolbox/ck2cti.m b/interfaces/matlab/toolbox/ck2cti.m
index 4d2fefafb..926f09968 100644
--- a/interfaces/matlab/toolbox/ck2cti.m
+++ b/interfaces/matlab/toolbox/ck2cti.m
@@ -13,15 +13,6 @@ function f = ck2cti(infile, thermo, transport)
 %    created will also contain transport property parameters. The
 %    function return value is a string containing the output file
 %    name.
-%
-%prog = [ctbin,'/ck2cti'];
-
-% set this to zero to turn off mechanism validation
-validate = 1;
-
-% set this to one to turn on debugging.  Use only if ck2cti
-% fails, and you want to see how the parser is parsing the input file.
-debug = 0;
 
 if nargin == 0
     error('input file name must be supplied')
@@ -41,18 +32,6 @@ else
     outfile = [infile '.cti'];
 end
 
-iok = ctmethods(0,1, infile, thermo, transport, idtag, debug, validate);
+iok = ctmethods(0,1, infile, thermo, transport, idtag, 0, 0);
 
-%iok = system([prog,' -i ',infile,' -t ',thermo,' -tr ',transport, ...
-%	      ' -id ',idtag,' > ',outfile]);
-if iok
-    %ierr2 = system([prog,' > log'])
-    %if ierr2
-    %  error(['Program ck2cti is not found at ',prog,['. Edit file' ...
-    %		    [' ctbin.m to point to the Cantera bin directory.']]])
-    % else
-    error(['Error occurred while running ck2cti. Check file ck2cti.log' ...
-        ' for error messages.']);
-    %end
-end
 f = outfile;
diff --git a/src/base/ct2ctml.cpp b/src/base/ct2ctml.cpp
index 0a9a1280c..59c484e3f 100644
--- a/src/base/ct2ctml.cpp
+++ b/src/base/ct2ctml.cpp
@@ -135,6 +135,90 @@ void ct2ctml(const char* file, const int debug)
     }
 }
 
+void ck2cti(const std::string& in_file, const std::string& thermo_file,
+            const std::string& transport_file, const std::string& id_tag)
+{
+#ifdef HAS_NO_PYTHON
+    /*
+     *  Section to bomb out if python is not
+     *  present in the computation environment.
+     */
+    string ppath = file;
+    throw CanteraError("ct2ctml",
+                       "python ck to cti conversion requested for file, " + ppath +
+                       ", but not available in this computational environment");
+#endif
+
+    string python_output;
+    int python_exit_code;
+    try {
+        exec_stream_t python;
+        python.set_wait_timeout(exec_stream_t::s_all, 1800000); // 30 minutes
+        python.start(pypath(), "-i");
+        stringstream output_stream;
+
+        ostream& pyin = python.in();
+        pyin << "if True:\n"; // Use this so that the rest is a single block
+        pyin << "    import sys\n";
+        pyin << "    sys.stderr = sys.stdout\n";
+        pyin << "    import ck2cti\n";
+        pyin << "    ck2cti.convertMech(r'" << in_file << "',";
+        if (thermo_file != "" && thermo_file != "-") {
+            pyin << " thermoFile=r'" << thermo_file << "',";
+        }
+        if (transport_file != "" && transport_file != "-") {
+            pyin << " transportFile=r'" << transport_file << "',";
+        }
+        pyin << " phaseName='" << id_tag << "',";
+        pyin << " quiet=True)\n";
+        pyin << "    sys.exit(0)\n\n";
+        pyin << "sys.exit(7)\n";
+        python.close_in();
+
+        std::string line;
+        while (python.out().good()) {
+            std::getline(python.out(), line);
+            output_stream << line << std::endl;;
+        }
+        python.close();
+        python_exit_code = python.exit_code();
+        python_output = stripws(output_stream.str());
+    } catch (std::exception& err) {
+        // Report failure to execute Python
+        stringstream message;
+        message << "Error executing python while converting input file:\n";
+        message << "Python command was: '" << pypath() << "'\n";
+        message << err.what() << std::endl;
+        throw CanteraError("ct2ctml", message.str());
+    }
+
+    if (python_exit_code != 0) {
+        // Report a failure in the conversion process
+        stringstream message;
+        message << "Error converting input file \"" << in_file << "\" to CTI.\n";
+        message << "Python command was: '" << pypath() << "'\n";
+        message << "The exit code was: " << python_exit_code << "\n";
+        if (python_output.size() > 0) {
+            message << "-------------- start of converter log --------------\n";
+            message << python_output << std::endl;
+            message << "--------------- end of converter log ---------------";
+        } else {
+            message << "The command did not produce any output." << endl;
+        }
+        throw CanteraError("ck2cti", message.str());
+    }
+
+    if (python_output.size() > 0) {
+        // Warn if there was any output from the conversion process
+        stringstream message;
+        message << "Warning: Unexpected output from CTI converter\n";
+        message << "-------------- start of converter log --------------\n";
+        message << python_output << std::endl;
+        message << "--------------- end of converter log ---------------\n";
+        writelog(message.str());
+    }
+}
+
 
 // Read an ctml file from a file and fill up an XML tree
 /*
diff --git a/src/clib/ct.cpp b/src/clib/ct.cpp
index 3894332c7..70dbc11fe 100644
--- a/src/clib/ct.cpp
+++ b/src/clib/ct.cpp
@@ -18,7 +18,6 @@
 #include "cantera/base/ctml.h"
 #include "cantera/kinetics/importKinetics.h"
 #include "cantera/thermo/ThermoFactory.h"
-#include "converters/ck2ct.h"
 #include "Cabinet.h"
 #include "cantera/kinetics/InterfaceKinetics.h"
 #include "cantera/thermo/PureFluidPhase.h"
@@ -1552,9 +1551,8 @@ extern "C" {
                   char* id_tag, int debug, int validate)
     {
         try {
-            bool dbg = (debug != 0);
-            bool val = (validate != 0);
-            return pip::convert_ck(in_file, db_file, tr_file, id_tag, dbg, val);
+            ctml::ck2cti(in_file, db_file, tr_file, id_tag);
+            return 0;
         } catch (...) {
             return handleAllExceptions(-1, ERR);
         }