A novel glucoside of l-menthol was synthesized from l-menthol and maltose by reaction with the lyophilized cells of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Conditions for the synthetic reaction were examined and optimized. When 50 mg of l-menthol and 1.4 M maltose in 10 mM citrate-10 mM phosphate buffer (pH 7.0) were incubated with the lyophilized cells for 96 h at 40 degrees C, l-menthyl alpha-D-glucopyranoside (alpha-MenG) was selectively obtained as a product, and the maximum molar conversion yield based on l-menthol supplied reached 19.8%.