Indian Journal of Science and Technology

Abstract

Background/Objectives: Cymbopogon species is a universally accepted oil bearing grass. It is very much valuable for both Industrial as because of its main components like Geraniol, Geranial, Citral, Myrcene, Neral, Nerol, and Citronellol, Limonene etc. and Medicinal value. Therefore, it is just a little attempt to survey the literature of this important grass. Materials and Methods: For this literature survey, basically library data was collected and digital resources were also included. From these sources we obtained reliable information about different works of Cymbopogon sp. Findings: These grasses have considerable medicinal importance as all parts of it are used extensively in Ayurvedic, unani and other some traditional health treatments. Studies by different researchers indicate that Cymbopogonspecies possesses various pharmacological activities such as anti-bacterial, anti-diarrheal, anti-amoebic, anti-filarial, anti-fungal and antiinflammatory properties, and various other effects like anti-mutagenicity, anti-malarial,anti-oxidants, anti-mycobacterial, hypoglycaemic etc. There are many literatures demonstrating the therapeutic use, enzyme inhibition activities of Citronella oil and also simultaneously analysed the different components of the oil. Application/Improvement: Till date very scanty information is available from different –different sources so, we try to collect this information in one review article. This review article gives an account of updated information on its chemical constituents, therapeutic uses, antimicrobial, antifungal and enzyme inhibitory activities of Cymbopogon species.

Keywords: Cymbopogon, Chemical Constituents, Enzyme Inhibition, Medicinal Properties, Pharmacological Activities, Therapeutic Use