| abstract |
A method for safely and efficiently producing highnpurity 3-ℓ-menthoxypropane-1,2-diol and intermediates to benused in the method. As shown in the following reactionnformula, 3-ℓ-menthoxypropane-1,2-diol represented by thenchemical formula (IV) is produced by adding ℓ-menthol to an1,2-epoxy-3-halogenopropane represented by the generalnformula (I) (wherein X represents a halogen atom) in annorganic solvent in the presence of a Lewis acid, therebynproducing a 1-halogeno-3-ℓ-menthoxypropan-2-ol representednby the general formula (II), allowing the firstnintermediate to react with an alkali metal salt of annaliphatic carboxylic acid having from 1 to 5 carbon atomsnto produce a 1-acyloxy-2-substituted-3-ℓ-menthoxypropanenrepresented by the general formula (III) and thennhydrolyzing the second intermediate. |