Host–Guest Inclusion Complexes of Essential Oils with Strong Antibacterial and Antifungal Features in Beta-Cyclodextrin for Solid-State Pharmaceutical Applications

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

In this work, the authors investigate host-guest complexes between essential oils and b-cyclodextrins. The work is well designed, interesting, and it very probably will gain high interest justifying publication in Appl Sci. I have only a few remarks to improve the quality of the unclear points of the manuscript.

1. I suggest extending the paragraph of EOs in the Section of the Introduction. Some sentences about the cited works can be enough.
2. The use of abbreviations is inconsistent in the whole manuscript. Two examples: a) the Eos is used in line 73 before its definition in line 74. b) b-CD is defined in line 73, and after that sometimes its abbreviation is used (line255) or it is not used (line 248).
3. The solid-state b-CD-EO and the tablet have been used as synonyms, although, the first one is perhaps the solid-state materials of the mixtures of EO and b-CD (preparation described in Section 2.1), while the last one is the pharmaceutical tablet (preparation described in Section 2.5). See e.g. Fig. 4. vs Fig. 7..
4. Furthermore, it can be followed easier the manuscript if the two different types of solid-state EO - b-CD materials would have distinctive signs. In the present case, the reader sometimes does not know that the authors mean one of the investigated EOs or their statement is general.
5. The authors stored the pharmaceutical tablets for sixty days at room temperature without any changes in their appearance and compactness. Have they checked the antifungal and antibacterial activity of the stored tablets?

Author Response

The authors thank the reviewers for their suggestions in order to improve the paper.

The authors changes the work accordingly and they hope that applied changes meet the expectations.

Responses to reviewer 1

In this work, the authors investigate host-guest complexes between essential oils and b-cyclodextrins. The work is well designed, interesting, and it very probably will gain high interest justifying publication in Appl Sci. I have only a few remarks to improve the quality of the unclear points of the manuscript.

1. I suggest extending the paragraph of EOs in the Section of the Introduction. Some sentences about the cited works can be enough.

The authors gave more detailed information about the essential oils adding a paragraph in the Introduction.

2. The use of abbreviations is inconsistent in the whole manuscript. Two examples: a) the Eos is used in line 73 before its definition in line 74. b) b-CD is defined in line 73, and after that sometimes its abbreviation is used (line255) or it is not used (line 248).

The authors agree the reviewer and modified the text accordingly.

3. The solid-state b-CD-EO and the tablet have been used as synonyms, although, the first one is perhaps the solid-state materials of the mixtures of EO and b-CD (preparation described in Section 2.1), while the last one is the pharmaceutical tablet (preparation described in Section 2.5). See e.g. Fig. 4. vs Fig. 7.

The GS-MS chromatograms referred to the solid state essential oil preparation described in Section 2.1), while the antifungal and antibacterial assays are performed with tablets (preparation described in Section 2.5). The authors agree with the reviewer and added more clear explanation of the antibacterial and antifungal procedure and modified figures 4 and 5.

4. Furthermore, it can be followed easier the manuscript if the two different types of solid-state EO - b-CD materials would have distinctive signs. In the present case, the reader sometimes does not know that the authors mean one of the investigated EOs or their statement is general.

The authors agree the reviewer and modified the text accordingly.

5. The authors stored the pharmaceutical tablets for sixty days at room temperature without any changes in their appearance and compactness. Have they checked the antifungal and antibacterial activity of the stored tablets?

Yes, they were checked for antimicrobial activity and the effects did not change.

Reviewer 2 Report

The manuscript described the efficacy of the application of essential oils, together with the functional application of its formation in solid state.  Overall, it scientifically sounds well.  It is an interesting study that deserves publication if the following comments have been addressed.

1. It will more informative to readers who are not familiar with pharmaceutics if authors can explicitly describe how to administrate the essential oil tablets in clinical to kill the Candida and S. aureus, such as by oral administration or others?
2. From Figure 2 to Figure 5, it is recommended to directly point out the peaks on the figures which are worth explanations. If applicable, the graphs in 2D of the referred chemicals can be displayed right next to the peaks.
3. As the results indicate that the tablet formulation induces a significant decrease in antifungal and antibacterial efficacy compared with that of pure essential oil, it is better to give more discussion on its application, making its application more convincible.
4. Minor typos: the “EOs” on row_73 should be described with its full term, and therefore its full term on row_74 can be removed.

Author Response

The authors thank the reviewers for their suggestions in order to improve the paper.

The authors changes the work accordingly and they hope that applied changes meet the expectations.

Responses to reviewer 2

The manuscript described the efficacy of the application of essential oils, together with the functional application of its formation in solid state.  Overall, it scientifically sounds well.  It is an interesting study that deserves publication if the following comments have been addressed.

1. It will more informative to readers who are not familiar with pharmaceutics if authors can explicitly describe how to administrate the essential oil tablets in clinical to kill the Candida and S. aureus, such as by oral administration or others?

The give more information about this point.

2. From Figure 2 to Figure 5, it is recommended to directly point out the peaks on the figures which are worth explanations. If applicable, the graphs in 2D of the referred chemicals can be displayed right next to the peaks.

The authors thank the reviewer for his/her suggestion but unfortunately in this case this display is not applicable, since the different part of the figure should be too small and overlapped.

3. As the results indicate that the tablet formulation induces a significant decrease in antifungal and antibacterial efficacy compared with that of pure essential oil, it is better to give more discussion on its application, making its application more convincible.

The authors give more discussion about this point.

4. Minor typos: the “EOs” on row_73 should be described with its full term, and therefore its full term on row_74 can be removed.

The authors agree the reviewer and modified the text accordingly.