Citral is a precursor in the industrial production of
vitamin A,
vitamin E,
vitamin K. Citral is also precursor to
lycopene,
ionone and
methylionone.
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 sweeter 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. The herb
Cymbopogon citratus has shown promising insecticidal and antifungal activity against storage pests.
Food additive Citral is commonly used as a food additive ingredient. It has been tested (2016) in vitro against the food-borne pathogen
Cronobacter sakazakii. == See also ==