Patent ID: 8822738

Claim:
A process for preparing hydroxytyrosol, comprising reacting: (a) a compound of the general formula (1) where X is CH 2 OH or CH 2 OM, wherein M is Li, Na, K, Mg or Ca), R 1 and R 2 are identical or different and are alkyl radical having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, benzyl radical, alkyl- or halogen-substituted benzyl radical or arylalkyl radical, where R 1 and R 2 can also be linked via to give a ring, R 3 , R 4 , R 5 and R 6 are identical or different and are hydrogen or alkyl radical having 1 to 6 carbon atoms, aryl radical, or alkyl-substituted aryl radical, where R 5 and R 6 can also be linked via —(CH 2 ) 4 —, —(CH 2 ) 5 — or —(CH 2 ) 6 — to give a ring, with (b) an aluminum compound of the formula (2) AlR 7 R 8 R 9 (2) where R 7 , R 8 and R 9 are identical or different and are H or alkyl radical having 1 to 8 carbon atoms, and subsequently adding an aqueous solution of a hydroxycarboxylic acid in an amount such that a clear homogeneous acidic solution with a pH<3 is formed, extracting hydroxytyrosol from the clear homogeneous acidic solution using an organic solvent and removing the organic solvent.