ScenTree, la nouvelle encyclopédie des ingrédients de parfum.

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Volatility :

Head

Price Range :

€€

Appearance :

Pale yellow liquid

Major components :

D-Limonene (55-60%)
Gamma-Terpinene (6-22%)
Citral (5-14%)
Geraniol (2-7%)
Nerol (2-6%)
Para-Cymene (≈1%)

CAS number :

68991-25-3

EINECS number :

Data not available.

FEMA number :

Data not available.

Stability :

Solubility issues in perfumes Citruses tend to fade through time in perfumes Limonene tends to convert into Carvone through time, and to give a minthy note to the oil Aldehydes can form diethylacetals in stability tests, without modifying the raw material’s smell

Crédits photo: ScenTree SAS

Botanical name :

Citrus medica

Botanical profile :

Citron is the fruit of the citron tree, belonging to the Rutaceae family and the Citrus genus.

Geographic origin :

Originally from East Asia, the citron tree is mainly grown in Sicily.

Extraction process :

The cedar tree is a tree gives birth to the citron, a citrus fruit close to lemon, measuring up to 25 cm long and weighing 4 kg. The propagation of a cedar crop is done by cutting a plant aged of 2 to 4 years. The tree begins to bear fruit after 3 years of cultivation.
From September to November, the fruits are hand picked and placed in baskets to be brought to the factory. There, the baskets are weighed one by one and the fruits are sent to the sfumatrice. This machine prick the zest of the fruit with needles in order to cold press the essential oil. When thee zest debris, the juice and the essential oil come out of the sfumatrice, they are driven by a stream of water to a centrifuge where the water is separated from the oil and zest debris to isolate the essential oil by decantation.
Using a peeling machine (instead of the sfumatrice), the citron zest can be isolated and steam distilled to obtain an essential oil of ''distilled citron ''.
Sometimes the essential oil of citron can be distilled again to isolate the terpenes and concentrate the more powerful compounds or to collect the ''citron terpenes ''.

Chemotypes :

The genus Citrus includes the vast majority of citrus fruits and includes a large number of varieties available in perfumery:
Bergamot - (Citrus bergamia) is a hybrid of lemon and bitter orange, grown for the essential oil of its fruit and petitgrain.
Bitter orange or bigarade orange - (Citrus aurantium), grown in Spain and Florida.
Citron - (Citrus medica), grown in Italy (Sicily).
Lemon - (Citrus limon), cultured in Italy for the essential oil of its fruit and of its leafy twigs (Petitgrain).
Combava - (Citrus hystrix), grown in Thailand and India.
Lime - (Citrus aurantifolia), grown for its fruit in Mexico for the most part.
Mandarin - (Citrus reticulata), grown mainly in Italy for its fruit and for its petitgrain, by extracting the leaves from the tree. Its hybrid with sweet orange gave birth to clementine.
Orange - (Citrus sinensis) is famous for the cultivation of its fruits, whose juice and essential oil are extracted in Brazil and California in particular, which is the most used of all perfumes.
Grapefruit - (Citrus paradisii) of Malay origin, is cultivated for its essential oil in Brazil and Israel in particular.
Yuzu - (Citrus junos), produced in Japan and Korea.

Aromatherapy :

Informations provided below are taken from reference works in aromatherapy. They are given for information purposes only and can not constitute medical information, nor engage the responsibility of ScenTree.

The citron has stomachic virtues (good for stomach digestion) and is recommended in cases of dyspepsia (digestive disorders of the stomach).

Allergens :

D-Limonene - Citral

For more information on allergens used in perfumery, please consult our article about allergens

IFRA :

This ingredient is not restricted

Restriction type :

Cause of restriction :

Amendment :

Comments :

Quantitative usage limits :

Cat.1	Cat.2	Cat.3	Cat.4	Cat.5	Cat.6	Cat.7	Cat.8	Cat.9	Cat.10	Cat.11

Skin contact products		Non skin contact products
Leave on products	Rinse off products	Non skin contact products

Annexe I :

Ingredients containing
Ingredient Name	Botanical Name	CAS N°	Estimated Concentration

Annexe I :

Some regulated synthetic ingredients are found in nature and in certain proportions in natural ingredients. This presence in nature has to be taken into account when calculating limits of use recommended by the IFRA. In case you do not know these concentrations, you can use the ones estimated by the IFRA. Here They are :

List of regulated compounds contained in this ingredient
Regulated ingredient name	CAS N°	Estimated Concentration
Citral	5392-40-5	5

Restriction type :

Cause of restriction :

Amendment :

Comments :

Quantitative limit on the use :

Cat.1	Cat.2	Cat.3	Cat.4	Cat.5A	Cat.5B	Cat.5C	Cat.5D	Cat.6

Cat.7A	Cat.7B	Cat.8	Cat.9	Cat.10A	Cat.10B	Cat.11A	Cat.11B	Cat.12

Annexe I : EN Ici nous avons un texte qui n'est pas en gras et qui est à la suite de Annexe I

Ingredients containing
Ingredient Name	Botanical Name	CAS N°	Estimated Concentration

Annexe I :

Some regulated synthetic ingredients are found in nature and in certain proportions in natural ingredients. This presence in nature has to be taken into account when calculating limits of use recommended by the IFRA. In case you do not know these concentrations, you can use the ones estimated by the IFRA. Here They are :

List of regulated compounds contained in this ingredient
Regulated ingredient name	CAS N°	Estimated Concentration
Citronellal	106-23-0	0,2
Citral	5392-40-5	5

To learn more about IFRA's standards : https://ifrafragrance.org/safe-use/library
To find out the specificities of each category and the ingredients prohibited by IFRA, click article about l'IFRA
ScenTree is solely responsible for the information provided here.

Uses in perfumery :

Used in fine fragrance to give a lemony and zesty effect.

Other comments :

Citron is very little used because it has long been associated to ''old '' perfumes.
Since the production is not intended for food, the market tends to be a small one : there's little tonnage and prices are set accordingly.
Its use is not as common as it used to be, it has drastically decreased in recent years. Formerly, in Judaism, citron was one of the four species of plants used during religious holidays (citron branch for Sukkot, date palm branch for Lulav, myrtle branch for Hadass and willow branch for the Aravah).
Citrus currently suffer from a disease called ''citrus greening ''. This disease is deadly for citrus fruits and no treatment exists. It is transmitted by a vector insect that attacks young shoots: the psylla. This results in the premature death of many trees and therefore the decline in the general production of the essential oil and its quality (reduction of the D-Limonene level).
The sarcodactylis variety of citron is also called ''hand of bouddha '', because of its shape.