Hybrid Application of RSM and ANN to Optimize Natural Deep Eutectic Solvent-Based Distillation of Ocimum basilicum Essential Oil and Its Biological Activities

Khan, Iqra; Akram, Sumia; Liaqat, Zainab; Butt, Faizan Waseem; Iftikhar, Haroon; Khalid, Noor Ul Ain; Ashraf, Rizwan; Abu-Yousef, Imad A.; Majdalawieh, Amin F.; Al-Qawasmeh, Raed A.; El-Naggar, Mohamed; Mushtaq, Muhammad

doi:10.3390/ijms27177692

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Hybrid Application of RSM and ANN to Optimize Natural Deep Eutectic Solvent-Based Distillation of Ocimum basilicum Essential Oil and Its Biological Activities

by

Iqra Khan

¹,

Sumia Akram

¹,

Zainab Liaqat

²,

Faizan Waseem Butt

²,

Haroon Iftikhar

²

,

Noor Ul Ain Khalid

²,

Rizwan Ashraf

^3,4,

Imad A. Abu-Yousef

^3,*,

Amin F. Majdalawieh

³

,

Raed A. Al-Qawasmeh

^5,6,7

,

Mohamed El-Naggar

^5,6

and

Muhammad Mushtaq

^2,*

¹

Division of Science and Technology, University of Education, Lahore-54000, Pakistan

²

Department of Chemistry, Government College University, Lahore-54770, Pakistan

³

Department of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Sciences, American University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 26666, United Arab Emirates

⁴

Department of Chemistry, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad 38040, Pakistan

⁵

Department of Chemistry, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates

⁶

Advanced Biotechnology Center, Research Institute for Sciences and Engineering, University of Sharjah, Sharjah P.O. Box 27272, United Arab Emirates

⁷

Department of Chemistry, The University of Jordan, Amman 11942, Jordan

^*

Authors to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2026, 27(17), 7692; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms27177692

Submission received: 26 June 2026 / Revised: 15 August 2026 / Accepted: 19 August 2026 / Published: 27 August 2026

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Activity and Efficacy Evaluation of Natural Products)

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Abstract

The extraction of essential oil from agricultural resources continues to be a challenge in the context of purity, the integrity of delicate compounds, and low yield. In the current study, a new distillation protocol, involving the use of Glucose–Citric Acid-based Natural Deep Eutectic Solvent (NaDES), has been developed and optimized through artificial intelligence (AI)-based models for enhanced recovery of Ocimum basilicum L. essential oil (OBEO). The NaDES mixture was prepared at various compositional ratios and customized through statistical tools of RSM as well as AI-based models (ANN) to optimize the recovery and chemical composition of OBEO. The physicochemical properties of the prepared NaDES were studied at 5–50% molar ratios of water, which revealed a pH drift of 1–2.5, a viscosity of 1244–5.21 mPa.s, and a density of 1.55–1.22 g/cm³. The maximum yield of OBEO (41.00 ± 0.27 mL/Kg of fresh aerial material) was obtained with the extracting solvent containing 31.6% NaDES applied with 7.18 mL/g solvent-to-solid ratio at 70 °C and 210 min of distillation time. Interestingly, the chemical composition of OBEO obtained through the test protocol was more diverse in chemical nature in comparison to the control (hydrodistillation) when studied through GC-MS analysis. Moreover, NaDES-based OBEO demonstrated potent broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity, antioxidant activity (90.36% inhibition of DPPH^⸰), and notable mosquito repellent activity (RC₅₀ = 407 µL). These findings indicate that Glucose–Citric Acid-based NaDES in combination with water can distill OBEO more efficiently for its application in food and pharmaceutical industries.

Keywords: natural deep eutectic solvent; essential oil; optimization of extraction; artificial neural network; biological activities

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MDPI and ACS Style

Khan, I.; Akram, S.; Liaqat, Z.; Butt, F.W.; Iftikhar, H.; Khalid, N.U.A.; Ashraf, R.; Abu-Yousef, I.A.; Majdalawieh, A.F.; Al-Qawasmeh, R.A.; et al. Hybrid Application of RSM and ANN to Optimize Natural Deep Eutectic Solvent-Based Distillation of Ocimum basilicum Essential Oil and Its Biological Activities. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2026, 27, 7692. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms27177692

AMA Style

Khan I, Akram S, Liaqat Z, Butt FW, Iftikhar H, Khalid NUA, Ashraf R, Abu-Yousef IA, Majdalawieh AF, Al-Qawasmeh RA, et al. Hybrid Application of RSM and ANN to Optimize Natural Deep Eutectic Solvent-Based Distillation of Ocimum basilicum Essential Oil and Its Biological Activities. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2026; 27(17):7692. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms27177692

Chicago/Turabian Style

Khan, Iqra, Sumia Akram, Zainab Liaqat, Faizan Waseem Butt, Haroon Iftikhar, Noor Ul Ain Khalid, Rizwan Ashraf, Imad A. Abu-Yousef, Amin F. Majdalawieh, Raed A. Al-Qawasmeh, and et al. 2026. "Hybrid Application of RSM and ANN to Optimize Natural Deep Eutectic Solvent-Based Distillation of Ocimum basilicum Essential Oil and Its Biological Activities" International Journal of Molecular Sciences 27, no. 17: 7692. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms27177692

APA Style

Khan, I., Akram, S., Liaqat, Z., Butt, F. W., Iftikhar, H., Khalid, N. U. A., Ashraf, R., Abu-Yousef, I. A., Majdalawieh, A. F., Al-Qawasmeh, R. A., El-Naggar, M., & Mushtaq, M. (2026). Hybrid Application of RSM and ANN to Optimize Natural Deep Eutectic Solvent-Based Distillation of Ocimum basilicum Essential Oil and Its Biological Activities. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 27(17), 7692. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms27177692

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Hybrid Application of RSM and ANN to Optimize Natural Deep Eutectic Solvent-Based Distillation of Ocimum basilicum Essential Oil and Its Biological Activities

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