NEUTRAMENTH | A redox-neutral process for the cost-efficient and environmentally friendly production of Menthol

Summary
Menthol is an organic compound which ranks as the world's most popular flavour due to its uniquely fresh taste. It is present in a myriad of everyday products, from shower gel to toothpaste to cooling ointment. It is most widely produced industrially from Citronellal in a sequence of metal-promoted cyclisation followed by precious metal-catalysed hydrogenation. The use of metals in synthesis presents issues associated with cost, environmental friendliness and product contamination. In the ERC CoG project VINCAT, the group of Prof. Maulide has made groundbreaking discoveries in redox-neutral transformations and has uncovered a carbon-carbon bond forming reaction that allows the production of Menthol from Citronellal in a single step and without the need for any metal-catalyzed event. The goal of this PoC project is to optimize the metal-free conversion of Citronellal to Menthol in a single step, to demonstrate technical feasibility and implementation on large scale and to implement the relevant market analysis and IPR strategy.
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More information & hyperlinks
Web resources: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/812703
Start date: 01-10-2018
End date: 31-12-2020
Total budget - Public funding: 149 996,25 Euro - 149 996,00 Euro
Cordis data

Original description

Menthol is an organic compound which ranks as the world's most popular flavour due to its uniquely fresh taste. It is present in a myriad of everyday products, from shower gel to toothpaste to cooling ointment. It is most widely produced industrially from Citronellal in a sequence of metal-promoted cyclisation followed by precious metal-catalysed hydrogenation. The use of metals in synthesis presents issues associated with cost, environmental friendliness and product contamination. In the ERC CoG project VINCAT, the group of Prof. Maulide has made groundbreaking discoveries in redox-neutral transformations and has uncovered a carbon-carbon bond forming reaction that allows the production of Menthol from Citronellal in a single step and without the need for any metal-catalyzed event. The goal of this PoC project is to optimize the metal-free conversion of Citronellal to Menthol in a single step, to demonstrate technical feasibility and implementation on large scale and to implement the relevant market analysis and IPR strategy.

Status

CLOSED

Call topic

ERC-2018-PoC

Update Date

27-04-2024
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Horizon 2020
H2020-EU.1. EXCELLENT SCIENCE
H2020-EU.1.1. EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)
ERC-2018
ERC-2018-PoC