Spectrophotometric Estimation of Citral in Essential Oil

Abstract Citral forms an important constituent of many essential oils. It is present in a large number of essential oils containing lemon perfume and is of great commercial value. Methods of estimation of citral, available in literature are not very accurate or time consuming. The method developed by the author is based on colour change reaction of citral with rhodium (III). If all necessary requirements for experiment are ready, the estimation of citral occures within ten minutes. Rhodium (III) can also be determined with its colour change reaction by citral.