Citronella oil is also known as male citronella oil and vanilla oil. It is an essential oil obtained by steam distillation of the whole plant of citronella or subcitronella. It is a light yellow to light brown clear flowing liquid with a characteristic aroma similar to citronellal. The aroma of Ceylon oil is coarse and poor. It is insoluble in glycerin and propylene glycol, but soluble in most volatile oils, mineral oils and ethanol. Java oil: relative density 0.880~0.895 (20/20℃), refractive index 1.466~1.473. Ceylon Chemicalbook oil: relative density 0.894~0.910 (20/20℃), refractive index 1.479~1.487. The main components are citronellal (Java type reaches 35% to 45%; Ceylon type reaches 5% to 16%), geraniol (Java type reaches 85%; Ceylon type reaches 60%), and there are also citronellol, citral, eugenol, vanillin, eugenol, diacetyl, benzaldehyde, methyl heptenone, juniper terpenes, isovaleraldehyde, geranic acid and its esters, etc.

Citronella oil is one of the important natural spices. In spices, it is mainly used in soaps and detergents, and is also used in cleaning agents and insecticides. But the main use is to separate citronellal and geraniol from citronella oil to further synthesize a series of citronella oil system spices such as hydroxycitronellal, rose alcohol, lemon Chemicalbook aldehyde, ionone, vitamin A, etc., which are used to prepare cosmetics and food flavors. It can also synthesize menthol for the pharmaceutical industry and make ant and fly repellents. Citronella oil also has the effects of sterilization, anti-inflammatory, muscle relaxation, blood circulation, and analgesia.