A sustainable route from the renewable myrcene to methyl ethers via direct hydroalkoxylationElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental details, general procedure, synthesis of pure compounds, 1H and 13C NMR. See DOI: 10.1039/c1cy00359c

A direct route to odoriferous methyl ethers from the monoterpene myrcene is presented. Investigating the activity of different catalytically active Lewis acids, the non-toxic and low-cost AlCl 3 appeared to be very suitable. Thus, the common route to ethers via the corresponding alcohols was reduced from four steps to one. Myrcene, which is industrially available from the crude resin of pines, serves as an excellent renewable starting compound for the direct and eco-friendly synthesis of odoriferous methyl ethers.