Chapter ll

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURES AND STUDIES

This chapter presents the different literature and or studies were helpful to

support the present research.

Cymbopogon (family:Poaceae) represents an important genus about 120 species

that grows in tropical and subtropical regions around the world. On account of their

diverse uses in pharmaceutical, cosmetics, food and flavor, and agriculture industries.

Cymbopogon grasses are cultivated on large scale, especially in topics and subtropics

(Akhila 2010).

Cymbopogon citrus (DC) stapf possesses strong lemony odor due to its high

content of the aldehyde citral, which has two geometric isomers, geranial (citral a) and

neral (citral b) (Shahi et al., 2005). Normally one isomer does not occur without the other

in addition to citral, the essential oil of Cymbopogon spp. Consist of small quantities of

geraniol, geranyl acetate and monoterpene olefins, such as limonene (in C. flexuosus)

and myrcene (in C. citrus) (Weiss, 1997). C. citrus is commonly used in folk medicine for

treatment of nervous and gastrointestinal analgesic, anti-inflammatory, anti-pyretic,

diuretic and sedative (Santin et., 2009). Studies on extracts from C. citratus leaves have

demonstrated anti-oxidant, anti-microbial and anti-fungal activities (Oloyede 2009,

Pereira et al., Matasyoh et al., 2011)

A literature search was undertaken on the effect of different methods of drying on

chemical composition and content of the essential oil. The results showed that drying