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Aqua Oleum Lemon Essential Oil 10ml
Lemon Oil is an essential oil of considerable importance in both perfumery
and flavour applications. Currently 25% - 30% of the world production is
manufactured in the USA, the main production areas being Florida and California.
Italy and, surprisingly, Argentina are the next largest producers.
Considering the economic value of Lemon Oil, it is surprising that many of
the trace constituents that contribute to the flavour and therapeutic effects
still remain unidentified.
It is generally assumed that there are 50 constituents accounting for 99.7%
of total volatiles in lemon peel oil. In the last five years over 20 papers have
been published on the constituents of Lemon Oil, yet few of them agree as each
author uses his own standards for evaluation. Some allow for seasonal and
processing variations while others don’t, and some take into consideration
response factors, fractionation, oxygenation and hydration.
In general terms the essential oil is based on one large component, limonene,
which accounts for over 60% of the constituents. Based on analysis of over 22
samples from various origins, the following constituent range has proved to be
both accurate and successful:
Lemon Oil
|
|
Principal constituents by % |
min |
max |
|
alpha-pinene |
1.8
|
3.6
|
|
beta-pinene |
6.1
|
15.0
|
|
myrcene |
1.0
|
2.1
|
|
limonene |
62
|
74.6
|
|
gamma-terpinene |
6.0
|
11.6
|
|
para-cymene |
0.3
|
1.8
|
|
terpinolene |
0.3
|
1.9
|
|
alpha-terpineol |
0.7
|
2.8
|
|
geranial |
0.9
|
3.0
|
Apart from those named above, the other major countries of production are
Spain, South Africa, New Guinea, Israel, Brazil and Cyprus.
The essential oil is produced by the cold expression of the outer peel, after
the fruit has been extracted for use in various flavour products like juice
concentrates, fruit pulp for yoghourts, base essence for the beverage industries
etc.
One potential problem with the use of cold pressed lemon oil in application
on the skin is the phototoxic effect of psoralens. When the nonvolatile portion
of Lemon Oil is analysed, you will find one of the constituents, 5-methoxy
psoralen, another name for bergaptene. More recent studies have detected and
also identified a second psoralen, oxypeucedanin, whose phototoxic potency is
25% that of bergaptene.
IFRA, the International Fragrance Association, has ruled that for
applications on areas of the skin exposed to sunlight, excluding products which
are washed off the skin, Lemon Oil cold-pressed should not be used such that the
level in the consumer products exceeds 2%.
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