Producer
Takasago International Corporation
Japanese flavor/fragrance house; produces L-menthol via Noyori asymmetric-synthesis (myrcene route) and other aroma chemicals.
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Goods downstream
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1 input Takasago International Corporation supplies
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Fragrances
Flavors
Aroma chemicals
Fine chemicals
Intelligence
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Did you know2024
One cooling molecule, made by one Japanese company using Nobel-winning chemistry, threads through four industries. L-menthol is the cool sensation in toothpaste and mouthwash, in gum and mints, in menthol cigarettes, and in cough drops, decongestants and topical pain rubs. Takasago is the world's leading producer of synthetic l-menthol, via an asymmetric-hydrogenation process built on the chiral-catalysis chemistry that won Ryoji Noyori a share of the 2001 Nobel Prize. So oral care, confectionery, tobacco and over-the-counter medicine all draw on the same cooling compound from the same supplier — and menthol's supply is itself a quiet contest between this prize-winning synthetic route and Indian peppermint-oil agriculture, a chemistry-versus-farming dual sourcing for a single sensory ingredient.
Takasago International Corporation ↗Concentration2024
Flavors and fragrances are one of the most concentrated yet invisible layers of the consumer economy. The actual taste of a soda, the scent of a detergent, the flavor of a toothpaste — these are formulated not by the brand but by a handful of secretive houses: Givaudan, dsm-firmenich, IFF, Symrise and Takasago, the leading Japanese house. Consumers choose among thousands of brands, but the flavor and fragrance inside an enormous share of them is created by this tiny set of companies, who guard their formulas as trade secrets. So beneath the apparent diversity of the supermarket sits an oligopoly that literally defines how a vast range of products taste and smell — Takasago among its five members.
Takasago International Corporation ↗