Database/Fragrance/Isopulegol
Route-dependent · ISO 16128

Is Isopulegol natural?

It depends. The dominant industrial route cyclises citronellal made from myrcene, and myrcene is produced by pyrolysing beta-pinene from turpentine, which is a natural-origin feedstock. Scoring all synthetic isopulegol as petrochemical mislabelled that turpentine carbon; only the citral-based route is genuinely petrochemical.

INCI nameIsopulegol
CAS7786-67-6
FormulaC10H18O · 154.25 Da
FunctionFragrance
FeedstockA minority is distilled directly from citronella or…

Why the score varies

This ingredient is made commercially by more than one route, and ISO 16128 scores the feedstock actually used. Without a supplier certificate of origin the value cannot be claimed.

RouteFeedstockNOIShareNotes
isolated from essential oilcitronella or eucalyptus oil fractionation1.00~10%
citronellal cyclisation from turpentine-derived myrcenebeta-pinene from pine turpentine, pyrolysed to myrcene1.00~50%, largest single shareevery carbon traces to turpentine
citronellal cyclisation from petrochemical citralcitral from isobutene and formaldehyde0.00~40%
Ask your supplier. A batch-specific certificate of origin or bio-based carbon test (ASTM D6866) settles which route applies.

How we scored it

Isopulegol is C10H18O, 154.25 Da. Every commercial route keeps the whole ten-carbon terpene skeleton, so no fragment split applies and the answer is either 1.00 or 0.00 depending on where the starting terpene came from. Oil isolation and the myrcene route both trace every carbon to a plant or to pine turpentine, giving 154.25/154.25 = 1.00. Only citronellal built from petrochemical citral gives 0.00.
What counts. ISO 16128-2 scores the atoms that remain in the final ingredient. Reagents, solvents, catalysts and protecting groups used during manufacture leave no mass behind and are not counted.

Where it comes from

A minority is distilled directly from citronella or Eucalyptus citriodora oil. Most is made as an intermediate in synthetic menthol manufacture by cyclising citronellal. That citronellal comes either from turpentine-derived myrcene, whose carbon is natural origin, or from citral synthesised from isobutene and formaldehyde, which is petrochemical.

In plain English

A minty, cooling fragrance ingredient related to menthol. Mostly made industrially from a terpene building block as a menthol-synthesis intermediate; a smaller amount is isolated from citronella-type oils.

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Structure

2D structure of Isopulegol

(1R,2S,5R)-5-methyl-2-prop-1-en-2-ylcyclohexan-1-ol

PubChem CID 170833 ↗

References

  1. 1ISO 16128-1:2016 and ISO 16128-2:2017 — Guidelines on technical definitions and criteria for natural and organic cosmetic ingredients and products. ISO, Geneva.
  2. 2Isopulegol. PubChem CID 170833. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3ISOPULEGOL. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4ISOPULEGOL. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=ISOPULEGOL