Database/Fragrance/Citral
Route-dependent · ISO 16128

Is Citral natural?

It depends. Citral is natural origin when distilled from lemongrass or litsea oil or made from pine terpenes; most bulk citral is built from petrochemical isobutylene and formaldehyde for fragrance and vitamin A use.

INCI nameCitral
CAS5392-40-5
FormulaC10H16O · 152.23 Da
FunctionFragrance · Perfuming
FeedstockMost bulk citral is built from petrochemical isobutylene…

Why the score varies

This ingredient is made commercially by more than one route, and ISO 16128 scores the feedstock actually used. Without a supplier certificate of origin the value cannot be claimed.

RouteFeedstockNOIShareNotes
Natural essential oil isolationLemongrass/litsea cubeba oil distillation1.00~35%
From pine terpenesgeraniol and nerol made from pine-turpentine myrcene, oxidised to citral1.00minor
Petrochemical synthesisisobutylene and formaldehyde (prenol and prenal route)0.00~60%
Ask your supplier. A batch-specific certificate of origin or bio-based carbon test (ASTM D6866) settles which route applies.

How we scored it

Whole-molecule route split: citral distilled from lemongrass or litsea oil, or made from pine terpenes = 1.00; citral built from isobutylene and formaldehyde = 0.00. Not averaged.
What counts. ISO 16128-2 scores the atoms that remain in the final ingredient. Reagents, solvents, catalysts and protecting groups used during manufacture leave no mass behind and are not counted.

Where it comes from

Most bulk citral is built from petrochemical isobutylene and formaldehyde. A real natural stream is distilled from lemongrass (Cymbopogon) or litsea cubeba oil, and citral made from pine-turpentine terpenes (through geraniol and nerol) also counts as natural origin.

In plain English

A citrus-scented fragrance ingredient used to perfume cosmetics and flavour products. It occurs naturally in lemongrass and litsea oils and can be made from pine terpenes, but most of the world's supply is built from petrochemicals.

CosIng definition: Citral is the aldehyde that conforms to the formula:

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Structure

2D structure of Citral

(2E)-3,7-dimethylocta-2,6-dienal

PubChem CID 638011 ↗

References

  1. 1ISO 16128-1:2016 and ISO 16128-2:2017 — Guidelines on technical definitions and criteria for natural and organic cosmetic ingredients and products. ISO, Geneva.
  2. 2Citral. PubChem CID 638011. National Center for Biotechnology Information. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov ↗
  3. 3CITRAL. CosIng — European Commission cosmetic ingredient database. ec.europa.eu/cosing ↗
  4. 4CITRAL. CosIng u2014 European Commission database for information on cosmetic substances and ingredients. https://ec.europa.eu/growth/tools-databases/cosing/search?search=CITRAL