A Contemporary Introduction to Essential Oils: Chemistry, Bioactivity and Prospects for Australian Agriculture

Abstract

This review is a comprehensive introduction to pertinent aspects of the extraction methodology, chemistry, analysis and pharmacology of essential oils, whilst providing a background of general organic chemistry concepts to readers from non-chemistry oriented backgrounds. Furthermore, it describes the historical aspects of essential oil research whilst exploring contentious issues of terminology. This follows with an examination of essential oil producing plants in the Australian context with particular attention to Aboriginal custom use, historical successes and contemporary commercial prospects. Due to the harsh dry environment of the Australian landmass, particularly to the cyclical climatic variation attendant upon repeated glaciation/post-glaciation cycles, the arid regions have evolved a rich assortment of unique endemic essential oil yielding plants. Though some of these aromatic plants (particularly myrtaceous species) have given birth to commercially valuable industries, much remains to be discovered. Given the market potential, it is likely that recent discoveries in our laboratory and elsewhere will lead to new product development. This review concludes with an emphasis on the use of chemotaxonomy in selection of commercially viable cultivar chemotypes from the Australian continent. Finally, drawing largely from our own results we propose a list of Australian endemic species with novel commercial potential. OPEN ACCESSAgriculture 2015, 5 49

Antigenotoxic and apoptotic activities of essential oil of Atalantia monophylla Correa

“…Numerous reports are available on chemical composition, biological activities, and possible applications of essential oils in food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries. [10]…”

Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometric (GCMS) Analysis of Essential Oils of Medicinal Plants

“…While presently, essential oils have been used in various products such as cosmetics, air fresheners, hygiene products, agriculture and food etc., (Silva et al, 2003;Hajhashemi et al, 2003;Perry et al, 2003). Approximately, 3000 essential oils are known and about 300 of which are commercially available in worldwide market (Sadgrove and Jones, 2015;Hamdy et al, 2012).…”

“…For the sake of simplicity it's worthy to note that various major organic components have been identified and the primary ones are terpene hydrocarbons, monoterpene hydrocarbons, sesquiterpenes, phenols, alcohols, oxygenated compounds, sesquiterpene alcohols, esters, lactones, ketones, coumarins, ethers, monoterpene alcohols, aldehydes and various oxides as shown in Figure 1 (Sadgrove and Jones, 2015;Hamdy et al, 2012).…”

Chemical composition and antibacterial activity of Dracocephalum kotschyi essential oil obtained by microwave extraction and hydrodistillation

“…[19,20] Distillation is the most conventional method for the extraction of essential oils. [21] During distillation, plant materials, exposed to boiling water or steam, release their essential oils through evaporation.…”