Synthesis of (−)‐menthol: Industrial synthesis routes and recent development

(−)-Menthol is one of the most popular aroma compounds worldwide. While in past mostly extracted from mint plants, today (−)-menthol synthesis other raw materials becoming more relevant. Common starting for menthol are m-cresol, citral and myrcene, but also substrates like menthone, mono- bicyclic terpenes terpenoids have been used this purpose past. As many applications high purity required, asymmetric syntheses enantiomeric resolution obtained products applied production. This review gives an overview on important synthetic production processes companies Symrise, Takasago BASF relevant literature field with a focus last 20 years.