racemic menthol

Racemic menthol is a chemical compound that is a mixture of equal parts of two enantiomers, or mirror-image isomers, of menthol. These enantiomers are (-)-menthol (also known as l-menthol) and (+)-menthol (or d-menthol). While naturally occurring menthol is the levorotatory form, (-)-menthol, synthetic menthol is often produced as a racemic mixture. This means it contains both the left-rotating and right-rotating forms of menthol in equal amounts. As a result, a racemic mixture is optically inactive because the rotation of polarized light by each enantiomer cancels out the other. Racemic menthol, like other forms of menthol, is used for its minty, cooling properties in various medicinal and flavoring applications.12