Plant‑Derived Essential Oils and Phytochemicals: Dual Antioxidant and Antimicrobial Mechanisms

A Special Issue of Antioxidants (ISSN 2076-3921) belonging to the section "Natural and Synthetic Antioxidants".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 November 2026 | Viewed by 320

Editors


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Guest Editor
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Iasi University of Life Sciences “Ion Ionescu de la Brad”, Mihail Sadoveanu Alley 6-8, 700490 Iasi, Romania
Interests: veterinary microbiology; antimicrobial resistance; infectious diseases; zoonotic pathogens; food safety
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Iasi University of Life Sciences “Ion Ionescu de la Brad”, Mihail Sadoveanu Alley 6-8, 700490 Iasi, Romania
Interests: veterinary microbiology and immunology; alternative therapies; antimicrobial resistance; zoonotic infectious diseases
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Plant-derived essential oils and phytochemicals represent an important source of bioactive compounds, with significant antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. These natural metabolites, including phenolics, flavonoids, terpenoids, and other secondary compounds, play key roles in plant defense and have attracted growing interest due to their potential applications in medicine, food preservation, and agriculture. Oxidative stress and microbial infections are closely interconnected processes that affect both human health and biological systems. Many phytochemicals exhibit strong antioxidant activity by scavenging reactive oxygen species, modulating redox balance, and protecting biomolecules from oxidative damage. At the same time, these compounds can inhibit microbial growth through mechanisms such as membrane disruption, enzyme inhibition, interference with metabolic pathways, and the induction of oxidative stress in microbial cells.

This Special Issue aims to highlight recent advances in the study of plant-derived essential oils and phytochemicals with dual antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. We welcome contributions focusing on the chemical characterization of bioactive plant compounds, the elucidation of their molecular mechanisms of action, and their potential applications in health, food systems, and sustainable agriculture.

Original research articles, reviews, and short communications addressing the relationship between redox modulation, oxidative stress, and antimicrobial activity of plant-derived compounds are particularly encouraged.

Dr. Cristina-Mihaela Rîmbu
Dr. Cristina-Elena Horhogea
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Antioxidants is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2900 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • plant-derived essential oils and phytochemicals
  • redox modulation and antioxidant activity
  • antimicrobial mechanisms and applications

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This special issue is now open for submission.
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