Background. Many microbial hosts used for the rapid discovery and development of metabolic pathways can have sensitivities to final products and process reagents. Isopentenol, a biogasoline candidate, has an established heterologous gene pathway but is toxic to many microbial hosts. Reagents used in the pretreatment of plant biomass, such as ionic liquids, also inhibit growth of many host strains. We explored the use of Corynebacterium glutamicum as an alternative host to address these constraints. Results. We found C. glutamicum ATCC 13032 to be tolerant to both the final product, isopentenol, as well to three classes ionic liquids. A heterologous mevalonate-based isopentenol pathway was engineered in C. glutamicum. Isopentenol titers were improved via three routes: media optimization; substitution of an NADH-dependent HmgR homolog from Silicibacter pomeroyi; and development of a C. glutamicum ∆poxB ∆ldhA host chassis.