For the first time, the oxidative dehydrogenation of (-)-menthol to (-)-menthone and (+)-isomenthone in a marketable quality was carried out in a continuous gas phase reactor as a sustainable process using molecular oxygen as green oxidant and solid catalysts which do not contaminate the product mixture and which are easily to remove. The diastereomeric purity remained largely unchanged. Three types of catalysts were found to be very active and selective in the formation of menthone and isomenthone: AgSr/SiO2, CuO distributed on a basic support and RuMnCe/CeO2, where Ru, Mn and Ce exist in an oxidized state. The best overall yield of menthon/isomenthone obtained with an Ag-based catalyst was 58 % at 64 % selectivity, with a Cu-based catalyst 41 % at 51 % selectivity and with a Ru-based catalyst 68 % at 73 % selectivity. Reaction conditions were widely optimized.
Keywords: gas-phase reactions; oxidative dehydrogenation; supported copper catalyst; supported ruthenium catalyst; supported silver catalyst.