Citral
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Citral is an acyclic monoterpene aldehyde. Being a monoterpene, it is made of two isoprene units. Citral is a collective term which covers two geometric isomers that have their own separate names; the E-isomer is named geranial (trans-citral; α-citral ) or citral A. The Z-isomer is named neral (cis-citral; β-citral ) or citral B. These stereoisomers occur as a mixture, often not in equal proportions; e.g. in essential oil of Australian ginger, the neral to geranial ratio is 0.61.
Citral is an acyclic monoterpene aldehyde. Being a monoterpene, it is made of two isoprene units. Citral is a collective term which covers two geometric isomers that have their own separate names; the E-isomer is named geranial (trans-citral; α-citral ) or citral A. The Z-isomer is named neral (cis-citral; β-citral ) or citral B. These stereoisomers occur as a mixture, often not in equal proportions; e.g. in essential oil of Australian ginger, the neral to geranial ratio is 0.61.
Fragrances
Citral has a strong lemon (citrus) scent and is used as an aroma compound in perfumery. It is used to fortify lemon oil presenting as sharp, lemon, sweet, fresh, juicy, lemon peel, tart, and green. (Neral, the (E)-isomer, has a less sweet citrus, lemon, lemon peel note, whilst Geranial, the (E)-isomer is described as citrus, lemon. ) The aldehydes citronellal and citral are considered key components responsible for the lemon note with citral preferred. It also has pheromonal effects in acari and insects. The herb Cymbopogon citratus has shown promising insecticidal and antifungal activity against storage pests.
Text derived from https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=1374430116 under CC BY-SA 4.0; modifications have been made.