Question

Suggest a suitable method to extract menthol from aqueous mint juice and explain.

Answer 1

The menthol added to many products is actually synthesized from a compound called myrcene, which is turn is made from geraniol. It's available from the plant, of course, but it takes a lot less energy to synthesize menthol than to extract it. If you want to do yours more naturally, since menthol is not soluble in water, I suggest you soak mint leaves in the strongest drinking alcohol (ethanol) you can find and then be patient, allowing the alcohol to evaporate at low temperature. Menthol boils at 212 C/485 or so F, so it wouldn't boil away, but I wouldn't expose the mixture to high heat because it might burn and undo the whole process. You could also do this with hexanol but if you don't know what you're doing, well, please don't.