Pharmaceutical Ingredients

Limonene is a clear, colourless liquid at room temperature with an extremely strong smell of Oranges. Limonene is a chiral molecule.

Limonene is a monoterpene, made up of two isoprene units which can be distilled without decomposition.

Limonene occurs in two optically active forms, namely l-limonene and d-limonen. Both isomers have different odours: l-limonene smells piney and turpentine like and d-limonene has a pleasing orange scent.

d-limonene (( )-limonene), which is known as (R)- enantiomer

CAS number 5989-27-5

l-limonene, which is known as (S)-enantiomer

CAS number 5989-54-8

Applications

Apart from use of flavour aid in food industry, Limonene is increasingly being used as an environmentally friendly alternative to mineral oils as a solvent for cleaning purposes, such as the removal of oil from machine parts, being more easily biodegradable than mineral oils and produced from a renewable source (citrus oil, as a byproduct of orange juice manufacture) Limonene, an antioxidant in lemon oil, has shown promise in the treatment of lung disease