Showing papers on "Citral published in 2009"
TL;DR: In this article, a two-year study was carried out to determine the evolution of free and bound aromatic compounds of Muscat grape (sp. Vitis vinifera cv. Muscat Hamburg) during ripening.
158 citations
TL;DR: It is suggested that four terpenes possess antifungal activity against T. mentagrophytes, and the activity might lead to irreversible cellular disruption.
141 citations
TL;DR: The results confirmed that amino groups on chitosan reacted with citral to form the Schiff base, and it was found that the antimicrobial activity of the Schiffbase was stronger than that of chitOSan.
136 citations
TL;DR: Results demonstrated that the most active essential oil was the citral chemotype, with geometric means-minimal inhibitory concentration (GM-MIC) values of 78.7 and 270.8 microg/mL for A. fumigatus and C. krusei, respectively.
Abstract: Two essential oils of Lippia alba (Mill.) N.E. Brown (Verbenacea), the carvone and citral chemotypes and 15 of their compounds were evaluated to determine cytotoxicity and antifungal activity. Cytotoxicity assays for both the citral and carvone chemotypes were carried out with tetrazolium-dye, which showed a dose-dependent cytotoxic effect against HeLa cells. Interestingly, this effect on the evaluated cells (HeLa and the non-tumoural cell line, Vero) was lower than that of commercial citral alone. Commercial citral showed the highest cytotoxic activity on HeLa cells. The antifungal activity was evaluated against Candida parapsilosis, Candida krusei, Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus fumigatus strains following the standard protocols, Antifungal Susceptibility Testing Subcommittee of the European Committee on Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing and CLSI M38-A. Results demonstrated that the most active essential oil was the citral chemotype, with geometric means-minimal inhibitory concentration (GM-MIC) values of 78.7 and 270.8 μg/mL for A. fumigatus and C. krusei, respectively. Commercial citral showed an antifungal activity similar to that of the citral chemotype (GM-MIC values of 62.5 μg/mL for A. fumigatus and 39.7 μg/mL for C. krusei). Although the citronellal and geraniol were found in lower concentrations in the citral chemotype, they had significant antifungal activity, with GM-MIC values of 49.6 μg/mL for C. krusei and 176.8 μg/mL for A. fumigatus.
135 citations
TL;DR: Citral-rich essential oil from C. citratus has promising antileishmanial properties, and is a good candidate for further research to develop a new anti-protozoan drug.
Abstract: Leishmaniasis causes considerable mortality throughout the world, affecting more than 12 million people. Cymbopogon citratus (DC) Stapf, Family Poaceae, is a widely used herb in tropical countries and is also known as a source of ethnomedicines. In this study, the inhibitory effect and the morphological and ultrastructural alterations on Leishmania amazonensis by the essential oil (EO) of C. citratus and its main constituent, citral, were evaluated. The results showed that the antiproliferative activity of EO on promastigotes and axenic amastigotes, and intracellular amastigote forms of L. amazonensis was significantly better than citral, and indicated a dose-dependent effect. Neither compound showed a cytotoxic effect on macrophage strain J774G8. The promastigote forms of L. amazonensis underwent remarkable morphological and ultrastructural alterations compared with untreated cultures. These alterations were visible by light, scanning, and transmission electron microscopy of promastigotes treated with EO and citral at concentrations corresponding to the IC(50) (1.7 and 8.0 microg/ml) and IC(90) (3.2 and 25 microg/ml), respectively, after 72 h of incubation. This study revealed that citral-rich essential oil from C. citratus has promising antileishmanial properties, and is a good candidate for further research to develop a new anti-protozoan drug.
133 citations
117 citations
TL;DR: Findings suggest that citral has a potential chemopreventive effect on human breast cancer cell line MCF‐7 and observe a decrease in prostaglandin E2 synthesis 48 h after citral treatment.
Abstract: Many natural components of plants extract are studied for their beneficial effects on health and particularly on carcinogenesis chemoprevention. In this study, we investigated the effect of citral (3,7-dimethyl-2,6-octadienal), a key component of essential oils extracted from several herbal plants, on the proliferation rate, cell cycle distribution, and apoptosis of the human breast cancer cell line MCF-7. The effects of this compound were also tested on cyclo-oxygenase activity. Citral treatment caused inhibition of MCF-7 cell growth (IC 50 -48 h: 18 x10 -5 M), with a cycle arrest in G 2 /M phase and apoptosis induction. Moreover, we observed a decrease in prostaglandin E 2 synthesis 48 h after citral treatment. These findings suggest that citral has a potential chemopreventive effect.
107 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, nano-sized silver particles on silica (Ag/SiO 2 ) were synthesized from the precursors silver nitrate and silver carboxylate [AgO 2 C(CH 2 OCH 2 ) 3 H], respectively, and a mean particle diameter in the range of 4-8nm could be detected via TEM.
96 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the results showed that treatment of the catalyst with ionic liquids, independent of catalyst coating or additive, leads to a selectivity enhancement of the desired product, citronellal.
88 citations
TL;DR: Both 5 wT % MCT as emulsion droplets and 5 wt % triacetin as microemulsion Droplets were able to appreciably slow citral degradation at pH 3, which may have important implications for understanding and improving the chemical stability of citral in beverage emulsions.
Abstract: Citral is widely used in the beverage, food, and fragrance industries for its characteristic flavor profile. However, it chemically degrades over time in aqueous solutions due to an acid-catalyzed reaction, which leads to loss of desirable flavor notes and formation of off-flavor notes. The objective of this research was to examine the impact of organic phase composition [triacetin and medium-chain triacylglycerols (MCT)] on the oil-water partitioning and chemical degradation of citral in oil-in-water emulsions. MCT was present as emulsion droplets (d approximately 900 nm), whereas triacetin was present as microemulsion droplets (d approximately 10 nm). In the absence of organic phase, the rate of citral degradation increased as the aqueous phase pH was reduced from 7 to 3. The percentage of citral within the aqueous phase increased with increasing triacetin concentration at both pH 3 and 7, which was attributed to a reduction in MCT droplet concentration. There was no significant change in the particle size distribution of the emulsions during storage, independent of triacetin concentration and pH, which indicated that they were physically stable. Both 5 wt % MCT as emulsion droplets and 5 wt % triacetin as microemulsion droplets were able to appreciably slow citral degradation at pH 3. These results may have important implications for understanding and improving the chemical stability of citral in beverage emulsions.
73 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the retention of the principal volatile compound, citral, was analyzed in dried products obtained at three different drying conditions (30, 40, and 50°C) in a fluidized bed dryer.
Abstract: Lemon myrtle plant (Backhousia citriodora) leaves were dried at three different drying temperature conditions (30, 40, and 50°C) in a fluidized bed dryer. The retention of the principal volatile compound, citral, was analyzed in dried products obtained at these three drying conditions. The changes in the color parameters L∗, a∗, b∗ of leaves were also analyzed. More than 90% of citral was retained at 50°C drying temperature, whereas the retention at 30 and 40°C was 81 and 85%, respectively, suggesting that higher temperature is beneficial to achieve higher retention of volatiles. However, in terms of the color, all the color parameters were changed maximum at 50°C drying temperature unfavorably, suggesting that the higher temperature drying causes more degradation of the pigment. Blanching of the leaves in hot water at 80°C for 1 min prior to drying did not result in any improvement in volatile retention or color.
TL;DR: In this article, the liquid-phase hydrogenation of citral was studied at 393 K and 10 bar on Pt-Co/C catalysts, having different Pt/(Pt+Co) ratios and containing a total metal load of about 2%.
Abstract: The liquid-phase hydrogenation of citral was studied at 393 K and 10 bar on Pt–Co/C catalysts, having different Pt/(Pt + Co) ratios and containing a total metal load of about 2%. The monometallic and bimetallic Pt–Co/C catalysts were prepared by impregnation and co-impregnation, respectively, with cobalt tris(acetylacetonate) and platinum bis(acetylacetonate). Monometallic Pt/C and Co/C catalysts showed very low activity and selectivity to the desired products. Undesirable reactions, such as citral decarbonylation and hydrogenolysis, were observed with these monometallic catalysts. Instead, bimetallic Pt–Co/C proved very active and selective to geraniol/nerol and the main products detected were geraniol/nerol, citronellal and citronellol. Hydrogenation kinetic constants were determined by modeling catalytic data and using a pseudo-homogeneous kinetics. From the analysis of the kinetic parameters, an optimum Pt/(Pt + Co) ratio was found for both the catalytic activity and selectivity towards geraniol/nerol. Furthermore, it was determined that this optimum ratio depends on the activation conditions. Temperature-programmed reduction (TPR) experiments and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) demonstrated the existence of Pt–Co bimetallic compounds on the carbon support. On the basis of these results, it was proposed that cobalt improves the catalytic performance of platinum by electron transfer. This electron transfer is favored by the high interaction of both metals existing in these types of bimetallic compounds.
TL;DR: Although most of the tested compounds presented strong antibacterial and antifungal activities, citral, geraniol, 4-methyl-3-heptanol, hexanoic and octanoic acids were the most effective, particularly against C. albicans, suggesting that these compounds may be of potential value as antibiotics in the treatment of human candidiasis.
Abstract: The secretions of the mandibular and metapleural glands of leaf cutting ants contain antimicrobial substances that protect the mutualistic fungal colony within the nest from attack by parasitic micro-organisms. The major constituents of these secretions (citral, 4-methyl-3-heptanol, 2-heptanone, 3-octanone, 4-methyl-2-heptanone, β-citronellol, geraniol, phenylacetic, indolacetic, hexanoic and octanoic acids were tested against resistant strains of the human pathogens, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans. Assays were carried out using filter paper discs impregnated with either hexane or water solutions of the analytes in the concentration range 250–6,000 ng/μl. Although most of the tested compounds presented strong antibacterial and antifungal activities, citral, geraniol, 4-methyl-3-heptanol, hexanoic and octanoic acids were the most effective, particularly against C. albicans. The results suggest that these compounds may be of potential value as antibiotics in the treatment of human candidiasis.
TL;DR: The use of ionic liquids in catalysis is attracting ever more attention in chemical engineering as mentioned in this paper, and in line with this research, we have studied Supported Ionic Liquid Catalysts (SILCAs) which consist of immobilized catalytic species, e.g. transition metal particles residing in an ionic liquid layer immobilized on a solid support.
TL;DR: In this article, a clean and easy method for the conjugated addition of thiols to citral promoted by KF/Al2O3 under solvent-free or using glycerin as recyclable solvent at room temperature is described.
Abstract: A general, clean and easy method for the conjugated addition of thiols to citral promoted by KF/Al2O3 under solvent-free or using glycerin as recyclable solvent at room temperature is described. It was found that the solvent-free protocol is applicable to the direct reaction of thiophenol with the essential oil of lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus) to afford directly 3,7-dimethyl-3-(phenylthio)oct-6-enal, a potential bactericide agent. The method was extended to other electron-poor alkenes with excellent results. For the solvent-free protocol, the use of microwave irradiation facilitated the procedure and accelerates the reaction. The catalytic system and glycerin can be reused up to three times without previous treatment with comparable activity.
TL;DR: Geraniol, which is used as a flavoring for beverages, candies, ice creams, and baked goods and congeners (citral and nerol), may be useful for managing populations of T. putrescentiae.
TL;DR: The chemical constituents of leaf and peel essential oil of Citrus medica L. were analyzed by gas chromatography mass spectroscopy (GC-MS) as mentioned in this paper, and 19 components accounting for 99.9% of the oil were identified in leaf oil.
Abstract: The chemical constituents of leaf and peel essential oil of Citrus medica L. were analysed by gas chromatography mass spectroscopy (GC-MS). Nineteen components accounting for 99.9% of the oil were identified in leaf oil. The major constituents are erucylamide (28.43%), limonene (18.36%) and citral (12.95%) . The peel oil contains forty three components accounting for 99.8% of the total oil and the major components are isolimonene (39.37%), citral (23.12%) and limonene (21.78%). Keywords : Citrus medica ; Essential oils; GC-MS; Erucylamide; Isolimonene. © 2009 JSR Publications. ISSN: 2070-0237 (Print); 2070-0245 (Online). All rights reserved. DOI: 10.3329/jsr.v1i2.1760
TL;DR: The proapoptotic activity of Verbena officinalis essential oil and citral is thought to be due to a direct procaspase 3 activation, and further support evidence that indicate natural compounds as a possible lead structure to develop new therapeutic agents.
Abstract: We evaluated the pro-apoptotic activity of Verbena officinalis essential oil and of its main component citral, on lymphocytes collected from normal blood donors and patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The number of apoptotic cells was greater in CLL patients than in healthy subjects at all different times of incubation (4, 8 and 24 hours) for samples treated with Verbena officinalis essential oil (A) and citral (B) as well vs controls at different concentrations (0.1% and 0.01%). The greater pro-apoptotic ability was shown by both essential oil of Verbena officinalis and citral at lower concentrations (after 4 h A 0.1%: 17.8% vs 37.1%; A 0.01%: 15.8% vs 52%; B 0.1%: 18.4% vs 46.4%; B 0.01%: 15.8% vs 54.2%; after 8 h A 0.1%: 23% vs 38%; A 0.01%: 22.2% vs 55%; B 0.1%: 32% vs 42.2%; B 0.01%: 22% vs 54.3%; after 24 h A 0.1%: 5% vs 20.7%; A 0.01%: 25.8% vs 47.2%; B 0.1%: 18.4% vs 46.4%; B 0.01%: 15.8% vs 54.2%). Patients carrying deletion 17p13 (p53 mutation) showed a reduced ability to undergo apoptosis with respect to patients with other genomic aberrations or normal karyotype. The proapoptotic activity of Verbena officinalis essential oil and citral is thought to be due to a direct procaspase 3 activation. These data further support evidence that indicate natural compounds as a possible lead structure to develop new therapeutic agents.
TL;DR: Dual catalyst systems of Zr-zeolite beta and nano-dispersed Ni on an MCM-41 support were equally effective and have the added advantage that the rates of the acid- and hydrogenation-catalysed steps can be independently varied.
Abstract: The transformation of citral to menthols involves hydrogenation steps as well as cyclisation of the intermediate, citronellal. The ability of Zr-zeolite beta to catalyse the cyclisation with high diastereoselectivity to (+/-)-isopulegol is the critical step in this cascade transformation. Bifunctional catalysts containing nickel or rhodium supported on Zr-zeolite beta gave menthols in yields of 87-89% and an excellent diastereoselectivity of 94% for the desired (+/-)-menthol. Dual catalyst systems of Zr-zeolite beta and nano-dispersed Ni on an MCM-41 support were equally effective and have the added advantage that the rates of the acid- and hydrogenation-catalysed steps can be independently varied. By applying a pressure ramp of 0.2-2 MPa, the yield of menthols could be increased to 95%, with 94% diastereoselectivity for (+/-)-menthol. The low initial pressure minimises the rates of competing hydrogenation reactions to byproducts such as citronellol and 3,7-dimethyloctanol.
TL;DR: In this article, Ni nanoparticles decorated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (Ni-MWNTs) nanocomposites were conveniently prepared by a chemical reduction of nickel salt in the present of poly(acrylic acid) grafted MWNTs, and the experimental results showed that the citronellal, an important raw material for flavoring and perfumery industries, is the favorable product with a percentage as high as 86.9%.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: SFE was found to be a superior process than steam distillation, producing better quality essential oil containing 90% Citral, and the oil from the air dried lemongrass stems fell short in terms of purity.
Abstract: This study compares the composition of essential oil extracted from lemongrass leaves and stems using supercritical CO2 (SC CO2) and steam distillation. In the process using SC CO2 extraction in a Supercritical Fluid Extraction System (SFE), the temperature of extraction was varied from 35–50 0C, while the pressure applied was 9.1–11.1 MPa. The flow rate of CO2 to the reactor was maintained at 0.5 m3 h-1. Steam distillation was conducted using a standard bench scale setup. The extracts from both methods were analyzed by gas chromatography - mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and the variations of the composition were reported. The study showed that better oil quality in terms of composition was produced from the air dried raw materials than from direct heat drying. The essential oil extracted from air dried lemongrass leaves by SFE process contained 94.4% citral, 1.14% myrcene and 0.5% limonene, showing a composition similar to the reference standard. In contrast, the oil from the air dried lemongrass stems fell short in terms of purity. SFE was found to be a superior process than steam distillation, producing better quality essential oil containing 90% Citral. Key Words: essential oil, lemongrass, Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extraction Â
TL;DR: An in vitro assay that could rapidly screen plant extracts to provide quantitative data on inhibition of microbial growth was developed using a spectrophotometric assay using a microplate with serial dilutions of the plant extract and the bacteria.
Abstract: A microplate assay was modified for the detection of antimicrobial activity in plant extracts. The aim was to develop an in vitro assay that could rapidly screen plant extracts to provide quantitative data on inhibition of microbial growth. A spectrophotometric assay using a microplate with serial dilutions of the plant extract and the bacteria was developed. Two bacteria, Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli, were used for this study. Essential oils, oregano (Origanum vulgare) and lemon myrtle (Backhousia citriodora), and three active components carvacrol, thymol and citral were evaluated. The reproducibility of the assay was high, with correlation coefficients (r aureus and E. coli between 0.9321 and 0.9816. Similarly, r and 0.9814. This assay could also be used to measure antimicrobial activity in plant extracts which vary in pH and color.
TL;DR: In this paper, the catalytic performance of Pd nanoparticles in the CO2-in-Water (C/W) emulsion has been discussed for a selective hydrogenation of citral.
01 Jan 2009
TL;DR: In this article, the content and chemical composition of essential oil from lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L., Labiatae) grown in Turkey was investigated by GC/MS.
Abstract: This study was carried out to investigate the content and chemical composition of essential oil from lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L., Labiatae) grown in Turkey. The water-distilled essential oil from aerial parts of plants was analyzed by GC/MS. The essential oils of plant materials investigated ranged from 0.04 to 0.10%. Citronellal (36.62 to 43.78%), citral (10.10 to 17.43%), thymol (0.40 to 11.94%), and β-caryophyllene (5.91 to 7.27%) were recorded as major components.
TL;DR: The change in hippocampal retinoic acid concentration induced by different doses of citral might be responsible for the biphasic effect ofcitral on spatial learning and memory.
Abstract: Although some central effects of citral have been reported, cognitive effects on spatial memory have not been investigated. The evidence showed that citral can regulate the synthesis of retinoic acid (RA), which exerts a vital function in the development and maintenance of spatial memory. In this study, we applied Morris water maze to test the effect of citral on animals' spatial learning and memory. To elucidate the mechanism of this effect, we also measured the retinoic acid concentration in rats' hippocampus by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Our data implied biphasic effects of citral. The low dose (0.1 mg/kg) of citral improved the spatial learning capability, and enhanced the spatial reference memory of rats, whereas the high dose (1.0 mg/kg) was like to produce the opposite effects. Meanwhile, the low dose of citral increased the hippocampal retinoic acid concentration, while the high dose decreased it. Due to the quick elimination and non-bioaccumulation in the body, effects of citral on spatial memory in this study seemed to be indirect actions. The change in hippocampal retinoic acid concentration induced by different doses of citral might be responsible for the biphasic effect of citral on spatial learning and memory.
TL;DR: In this article, the influence of ionic liquids (ILs) based on the bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide anion on the alumina supported ruthenium catalysed liquid-phase hydrogenation of citral was investigated applying these ILs as additive.
Abstract: The influence of ionic liquids (ILs) based on the bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl)amide anion ([BMIM][NTf 2 ] and [HMIM][NTf 2 ]) on the alumina supported ruthenium catalysed liquid-phase hydrogenation of citral was investigated applying these ILs as additive. For characterisation ICP-OES, hydrogen pulse chemisorption and nitrogen physisorption were applied, the latter was used after reaction to identify the presence of an ionic liquid layer on the catalyst. The catalytic results show that under the chosen reaction conditions (373 K, 7 MPa H 2 , 0.3 mol L −1 citral), additives like [NTf 2 ] − based ionic liquids change the intramolecular selectivity (C O vs. C C hydrogenation) in a way that the desired unsaturated alcohols geraniol and nerol are the main products ( S max = 46% at X = 50% compared to only 25% for neat Ru/Al 2 O 3 ). Concerning the catalyst activity a decrease of the initial turnover frequency (0.048 s −1 ) in comparison to the IL-free catalyst (0.140 s −1 ) was observed. The results indicate that in presence of [BMIM][NTf 2 ] and [HMIM][NTf 2 ] the site-time yields towards citronellal were more decreased than for geraniol and nerol enhancing the selectivity of the latter ones.
TL;DR: The essential oil of Citrus limon (Lemon) peel exhibited fungitoxicitiy against Epidermophyton floccosum and Microsporum gypseum at 1000 ppm and Trichophyton mentagrophytes at 900 ppm and Citral was found to be the fungitoxic factor.
Abstract: Summary: The essential oil of Citrus limon (Lemon) peel exhibited fungitoxicitiy against Epidermophyton floccosum and Microsporum gypseum at 1000 ppm and Trichophyton mentagrophytes at 900 ppm. The fungitoxicity of the essential oil was not affected by autoclaving and storage. Citral was found to be the fungitoxic factor.
Zusammenfassung: Das atherische Ol von Citrus limon-(Zitronen-)Schalen zeigt fungitoxische Eigenschaften gegenuber Epidermophyton floccosum und Microsporum gypseum bei 1000 ppm und gegen Trichophyton mentagrophytes bei 900 ppm. Die Fungitoxizitat des Ols wurde durch Autoklavieren und durch Lagerung nicht beeinflust. Citral erwies sich als der fungitoxische Faktor.
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of storage in different packages on the essential oil content and humidity of Brazilian lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus) leaves were studied.
Abstract: The effects of storage in different packages on the essential oil content and humidity of Brazilian lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus) leaves were studied. Lemon grass leaves were dried at 50°C to moisture content of 11% (d.b.) and stored for one year in three different plastic and paper packages. Oil content and its principal compounds were isolated by the hydro-distillation method and analyzed by GC-FID as well as GC-MS every two months. The results showed a reduction in the oil content as well as a decrease in citral and myrcene in the plant for all packages during storage. Water concentration did not significantly vary during the period in the three packages.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, a preliminary analysis of antimicrobial activities of 28 essential oils against food poisoning and food spoilage bacteria was conducted, which revealed that the essential oils could be classified into five groups according to their inhibition effects against the tested bacteria.
Abstract: A preliminary analysis of antimicrobial activities of 28 essential oils against food poisoning and food spoilage bacteria was conducted. The results revealed that the essential oils could be classified into five groups according to their inhibition effects against the tested bacteria. In addition, the essential oils obtained from phlai (Zingiber cassumunar Roxb.), lemon grass (Cymbopogon citratus (De Can dolle) Stapf), mint (Mentha arvensis L.), hairy basil (Ocimum americanum Linn.), clove (Syzygium aromaticum) and cinnamon (Cinnamomum zeylanicum Nees) were capable of inhibiting 5-7 types of tested bacteria since they presented similar or larger sizes of clear zones than the ones obtained from the antibiotics. However, the essential oils obtained from phlai and hairy basil were found to be unsuitable to use according to their colour, odor As. J. Food Ag-Ind. 2009, 2(04), 677-689 678 and cost. Therefore, five essential oils including cinnamon, clove, mint, ginger and lemon grass were selected for further study. Extraction of the essential oils by distillation technique was carried out prior to the analysis of chemical constituents and physical properties i.e. refractive index, optical rotation and relative density. The results showed that clove, cinnamon, mint, lemon grass and ginger produced 4.0, 1.53, 1.0, 0.25 and 0.2% yield, respectively. In addition, different major constituents were found in each essential oil. For example, cinnamon contains a high amount of methyl cinnamate; clove has 87.66% eugenol; mint has 87.55% menthol, while the major constituents of lemon grass and ginger are Neral (citral b) and Geranial (citral a). An analysis of minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) indicated that all tested bacteria except P. aeruginosa ATCC 25922 were easily inhibited by the essential oils obtained from lemon grass, mint, cinnamon and clove, where the MIC values were approximately 0.4-2 mg/ml.
TL;DR: From the results achieved, the antifungal activity of the essential oil of C. citratus may be mainly due to the presence of neral and geranial, which could constitute an alternative to synthetic fungicides mostly used for Citrus fruit crops, due to high nal and Geranial contents.
Abstract: The essential oil of Cymbopogon citratus grown in Ngaoundere- Cameroon was extracted by hydrodistillation with a yield of 0.4 % (w/w). The chemical analysis, carried out by gas chromatography and gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry revealed that the extract is rich in geranial (32.2 %), myrcene (27.0 %) and neral (25.7 %), also the chemical composition of the fractions was determined. The antifungal activity was evaluated by incorporation technique. We have observed that citral, considered as a reference compared to fractions, is very active against P. angolensis with a Minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 400 ppm. Also, oil fractions 10 and 11 which are very rich in neral and geranial presented comparable efficacy with MIC of 500 ppm slightly more potent than the crude extract which presented an identical MIC to that of a reference fungicide (600 ppm). On the other hand, until 5000 ppm, no MIC was obtained with fraction 4 of this same extract. From the results achieved, the an...