Mini Review: Chemical Compositions and Bioactivity of Essential Oils
Keywords:
Bioactivity, Chemical composition, Essential oilsAbstract
Essential oils (EOs) from aromatic plants are fascinating natural products and address a significant part of conventional pharmacopeia. Since medieval times, EOs have been generally utilized for bactericidal, virucidal, fungicidal, antiparasitic, insecticidal, and medicinal. It also made a remarkable application in the pharmaceutical, sanitary, cosmetic, agriculture, and food industries. Various volatile molecules like terpenes and terpenoids, phenol-derived aromatic components, and aliphatic components are detected in most of the EOs due to the extraction method, mainly by distillation from aromatic plants. These components and their single constituents have been reported by many researchers on their effectiveness in food and pharmaceutical applications as well as to inhibit several phytopathogens, human microorganisms, and insects. The current review discussed the extraction techniques, chemical compositions, and bioactivity of EOs.