This paper presents a proposal to use β -Dxylopyranose (xylose) as a structural motif of hemicellulose. The thermal degradation potential energy surfaces (PESs) of xylose are investigated using density functional theory computations and composite schemes to uncover the energetics and thermodynamics of the associated chemical processes. Preliminary conformational analysis is also conducted to identify the global minimum conformer of the species under investigation. In addition, kinetic parameters are calculated using transition state theory (TST) for the elementary steps shown in Figure . Furthermore, for the first time, reaction barriers for the thermal degradation of xylose are calculated using a new family of composite schemes (junChS), as described in the Computational Methodology section. This establishes new reference data that could be useful for benchmarking purposes within the pyrolysis scien-tific community.