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Recent Advances in Extraction, Characterization, and Potential Use of Citral

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Natural Bio-active Compounds

Abstract

Citral is the main product of the lemongrass. Citral is found in various oils extracted from different plant species including Lemon myrtle, Listea citrata, etc. Citral, the most significant natural occurring metabolite, having strong lemon smell and essence, is commonly applied as additives in diets, drinks, and maquillages with high purchaser acceptance. Citral is found in two forms, E-isomer and Z-isomer. E-isomer is generally identified as geraniol or citral A, while Z-isomers as neral or citral B. Citral is an aroma compound and generally used in perfumery. Citral is naturally unstable and vitiates in both water and watery solutions due to catalyzation and oxidation of acidic part of citral which decreases the natural flavor of citral and makes off-flavors. Citral has strong sensitizing effect that is why it can be used only with anti-sensitizing agent. Some reports indicated the allergic effect of citral on people. Extensive work has been done to explore the various aspects related to citral such as extraction from different species, synthesis of synthetic drugs, production, characterization, etc. There are several reports related to antimicrobial, antibacterial, antifungal properties of citral content. The present chapter summarizes the work on citral content in various aspects carried out in the last decades in relation to their traditional and modern uses as culinary, medicinal, and cosmetic and also deals with quality issues and toxicity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mathematics and Sciences, College of Arts and Applied Sciences, Dhofar University, Salalah, Oman

    Mohammad Idrees, Faruck Lukmanul Hakkim & Gowhar Ahmed Naikoo

  2. Frankincense Biodiversity Unit, Research Center, Dhofar University, Salalah, Oman

    Faruck Lukmanul Hakkim

  3. Engineering College, Dhofar University, Salalah, Oman

    Israr Ul Hassan

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  1. Mohammad Idrees
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  2. Faruck Lukmanul Hakkim
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  3. Gowhar Ahmed Naikoo
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  4. Israr Ul Hassan
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Correspondence to Mohammad Idrees .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, Gandhi Faiz-e-Aam College, Shahjahanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Mohd Sayeed Akhtar

  2. Department of Biotechnology, East West First Grade College of Science, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

    Mallappa Kumara Swamy

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Idrees, M., Hakkim, F.L., Naikoo, G.A., Ul Hassan, I. (2019). Recent Advances in Extraction, Characterization, and Potential Use of Citral. In: Akhtar, M., Swamy, M. (eds) Natural Bio-active Compounds. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-7438-8_9

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