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Chemical Composition and Biological Evaluation of Essential Oils
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Chemical Composition and Biological Evaluation of Essential Oils

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Products Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 15 February 2026 | Viewed by 2492

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Renata Nurzyńska-Wierdak

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Vegetable and Herb Crops, Faculty of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, University of Life Sciences in Lublin, Doświadczalna 50A, 20-280 Lublin, Poland
Interests: spice and medicinal plants; ontogenetic and environmental variability; bioactive substances; cultivation; yield quality; essential oil composition; biological activity
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Natural medicinal and fragrance products are garnering increasing interest from scientists, manufacturers, and consumers.

Essential oils are an example of such products, long known and used for a variety of purposes. The main source of essential oils are fresh or dried plant materials; a few are obtained from tissue cultures. Essential oils are used in the food industry as flavorings and spices, in perfumery and cosmetics, and for medicinal purposes. Aromatherapy is becoming an increasingly popular field of natural medicine. The rich chemical composition and versatile healing properties of essential oils create a wide range of applications for preventive and therapeutic purposes. The therapeutic properties of oils are very diverse and are most often related to the action of their dominant components. The dominant compounds are mainly monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes, and phenylpropanes. The biological activity of essential oils is the result of the action of individual dominant components or the synergistic action of a complex of compounds. Due to their rich and varied chemical composition, shaped by numerous factors, essential oils continue to constitute an interesting scientific field. Understanding the effects of the chemical and biological variability of essential oils and their mechanisms of action may prove helpful in various therapies and/or in the production of various products.

Prof. Dr. Renata Nurzyńska-Wierdak
Guest Editor

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-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly 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 2700 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

  • essential oils
  • biological evaluation
  • chemical composition
  • therapies
  • natural products

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 1904 KB  
Article
Changes in Growth and Chemical Composition of the Essential Oil from Flowers and Leafy Stems of Lavandula angustifolia Grown in Media Amended with Bark and Sewage Sludge
by Agnieszka Zawadzińska, Aneta Wesołowska, Ewa Skutnik, Julita Rabiza-Świder and Piotr Salachna
Molecules 2025, 30(23), 4545; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules30234545 - 25 Nov 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 754
Abstract
The growing medium is one of the key factors determining the yield and quality of lavender oil. The research conducted in greenhouse conditions aimed to assess the impact of a substrate with a reduced peat content enriched with compost from sewage sludge and [...] Read more.
The growing medium is one of the key factors determining the yield and quality of lavender oil. The research conducted in greenhouse conditions aimed to assess the impact of a substrate with a reduced peat content enriched with compost from sewage sludge and bark on the growth, yield, and chemical composition of the oil from the inflorescences and leafy stems of English lavender ‘Sentivia Blue’. The plants were grown in pots filled with peat and chemical fertilizer, or in a substrate containing bark and sewage sludge compost, with or without fertilizer. Media affected the growth, leaf greenness index, and biomass production of lavender. Plants growing in peat with fertilizer were the tallest and widest. In turn, the highest number of inflorescences and the highest dry weight of inflorescences and leafy stems were found in plants grown in a mixture of bark and sewage sludge compost, with the addition of fertilizer. A significant interaction between the plant organ and the type of substrate was demonstrated, which affected the content of specific oil components. The content of essential oil was higher in inflorescences (1.15%) than in leaves (0.21%). The oil from the inflorescences was dominated by linalool, caryophyllene oxide, and linalyl acetate, while caryophyllene oxide, borneol, and geranyl acetate dominated in the leafy stems. The highest linalool content was found in oil obtained from inflorescences of plants grown in both media, based on bark and sewage sludge compost. The results show that the best quality parameters of the raw material and oil, including particularly high dry weight and linalool content, were obtained when the plants were grown in a medium consisting of bark, sewage sludge compost, and chemical fertilizer. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Composition and Biological Evaluation of Essential Oils)
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17 pages, 2692 KB  
Article
Chemical Composition and Biological Activities of the Essential Oils from Different Parts of Rosa bracteata J.C.Wendl
by Shiyu Song, Yifang Chen, Hongrui Chen, Qinglei Han and Pengxiang Lai
Molecules 2025, 30(19), 4021; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules30194021 - 8 Oct 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1325
Abstract
Rosa bracteata J.C.Wendl. is a thorny, clump-forming or trailing perennial evergreen shrub native to China. The current analysis was designed to explore the chemical constituents and determine the in vitro antimicrobial, cytotoxic, and antioxidant properties of the essential oils (EOs) of the stems, [...] Read more.
Rosa bracteata J.C.Wendl. is a thorny, clump-forming or trailing perennial evergreen shrub native to China. The current analysis was designed to explore the chemical constituents and determine the in vitro antimicrobial, cytotoxic, and antioxidant properties of the essential oils (EOs) of the stems, leaves, and flowers of Rosa bracteata for the first time. The chemical composition of the essential oils obtained through hydro-distillation was characterized by means of gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector (GC–FID). Thirty-seven, thirty-six, and forty-two constituents were identified from leaf oil (LEO), stem oil (SEO), and flower oil (FEO), representing 96.3%, 95.9%, and 97.4% of the total oil constituents, respectively. The LEO was mainly composed of 1-pentadecene, α-cadinol, and hexadecanoic acid. However, the main identified components of SEO were (E)-nerolidol, phytol, and benzyl benzoate, and the main components of the flower oil were ethyl octanoate, octanoic acid, and α-cadinol. All of the EOs exhibited antibacterial activities against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria with MIC values ranging from 40.00 to 640.00 μg/mL. In addition, the checkerboard method demonstrates potent synergistic effects of Rosa bracteata EOs when combined with commercial antibiotics (chloramphenicol and streptomycin). In the MTT test, SEO (IC50: 37.91 ± 2.10 to 51.15 ± 6.42 μg/mL) showed stronger cytotoxic activity against four cancer cell lines (MCF-7, A549, HepG2, and HCT-116) during the incubation time of 48 h in comparison to the EOs isolated from the other plant parts. Overall, these findings reveal the chemical composition and significant bioactivity of R. bracteata EOs for the first time, suggesting their potential as promising natural agents for therapeutic applications, especially in combination therapies to combat antibiotic resistance. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Composition and Biological Evaluation of Essential Oils)
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