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Review
. 2016 Jun 3;3(2):13.
doi: 10.3390/medicines3020013.

Essential Oils from the Malaysian Citrus (Rutaceae) Medicinal Plants

Siti Nur Atiqah Md Othman  1 , Muhammad Aizam Hassan  2 , Lutfun Nahar  3 , Norazah Basar  4 , Shajarahtunnur Jamil  5 , Satyajit D Sarker  6
Affiliations
Review

Essential Oils from the Malaysian Citrus (Rutaceae) Medicinal Plants

Siti Nur Atiqah Md Othman et al. Medicines (Basel). .

Abstract

This review article appraises the extraction methods, compositions, and bioactivities of the essential oils from the Citrus species (family: Rutaceae) endemic to Malaysia including C. aurantifolia, C. grandis, C. hystrix, and C. microcarpa. Generally, the fresh peels and leaves of the Citrus species were extracted using different methods such as steam and water distillation, Likens-Nikerson extraction, solvent extraction, and headspace solid-phase micro-extraction (HS-SPME). Most of the Citrus oils were found to be rich in monoterpene hydrocarbons with limonene (1) as the major component identified in the peels of C. aurantifolia (39.3%), C. grandis (81.6%-96.9%), and C. microcarpa (94.0%), while sabinene (19) was the major component in the peels of C. hystrix (36.4%-48.5%). In addition, citronellal (20) (61.7%-72.5%), linalool (18) (56.5%), and hedycaryol (23) (19.0%) were identified as the major components in the oil of C. hystrix leaves, C. grandis blossom and C. microcarpa leaves, respectively. The C. hystrix essential oil has been experimentally shown to have antimicrobial and antifeedant activities, while no bioactivity study has been reported on the essential oils of other Malaysian Citrus species.

Keywords: Citrus; Rutaceae; bioactivities; composition; essential oils; extraction.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The (A) fruit; (B) leaf; and (C) flower of C. aurantifolia. (Photos credit: Forest Starr and Kim Starr).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Chemical structures of the components identified from the Citrus essential oils.
Figure 3
Figure 3
The (A) fruit; (B) leaf; and (C) flower of C. grandis. (Photos kredit: Judgefloro, Davidals, Amada44).
Figure 4
Figure 4
The (A) fruit; (B) leaf; and (C) flower of C. hystrix. (Photos kredit: Robyn Jay, Forest Starr and Kim Starr, David Rofas).
Figure 5
Figure 5
The (A) fruit; (B) leaf and (C) flower of C. microcarpa. (Photos kredit: Ronald Escanlar, Forest Starr and Kim Starr, H. Zell).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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