Research progress of extraction method and biological activity of natural citral

Abstract

Citral, a kind of monoterpene compound, existed in leaves and fruits of many plants and was main component of aromatic plant essential oils. Because of its unique aroma components, citral gained popularity and was widely used in spice and fragrance manufacturing and beauty industry. This paper summarized citral extraction methods (distillation, supercritical CO ₂ extraction, microwave technology, chemical extraction and phase transfer catalyst methods), and compared their advantages and disadvantages. Because citral was unstable and easy to degrade, methods of reducing storage temperature, changing pH, changing oxygen concentration, using antioxidants, oil-in-water emulsion and microcapsule technology were commonly used to slow down the degradation of citral. Bioactivity of citral was diverse, therefore citral had antibacterial activity, anti-inflammatory activity, antitumor activity and antioxidant activity, at the same time citral could be used to kill insects, repel mosquitoes, treat diabetes and cardiovascular diseases, relieve asthma and cough as an ingredient of anticancer drugs. In this paper, it is suggested that the research should be strengthened in the future from the aspects of optimizing the extraction process of natural citral, increasing the stability of citral, developing new drugs of citral and products of citral derivatives, in order to better develop and utilize citral.

Abstract

摘要： 柠檬醛是一类单萜化合物,广泛存在于多种植物的叶片和果实中,是芳香类植物精油的主要成分,其独特 的香气成分深受大众喜爱, 广泛应用于香精、香料的制造和美容行业。文章归纳总结了柠檬醛的提取方法(蒸馏法、 超临界CO ₂萃取法、微波技术法、化学方法和相转移催化剂法), 对比分析其优缺点;针对柠檬醛具有不稳定、易降解 的特点, 一般采取降低储存温度、改变pH、改变氧浓度及采用抗氧化剂、水包油乳液和微胶囊技术等方法以减缓柠檬 醛降解;柠檬醛具备多种生物活性,包括抗菌、消炎、抗肿瘤和抗氧化等,同时可用于杀虫、驱避蚊虫,治疗糖尿病和心 血管疾病, 作为抗癌药物的成分及对平喘止咳等均起到较好的功效。提出今后可从优化天然柠檬醛提取工艺、增加 柠檬醛稳定性、开发柠檬醛新型药物及柠檬醛衍生物产品等方面加强研究,以期更好地开发利用柠檬醛。