The Chemistry of Essential Oils II

Dear Colleagues,

Essential oils continue to attract major interest in different areas of science and technology. New acquisitions of their biological properties require efforts to underpin their mechanisms at the molecular level; on the other hand, understanding their chemical properties can pave the way to further distinctive applications in the biomedical and other fields. Their antimicrobial and antioxidant properties are being extensively investigated, and are boosting their interest in the food industry as natural preservatives, while other specific properties are promoting their study in human and animal nutrition. They also maintain their importance in the cosmetic industry for their role in perfumery, and the recent discoveries in the functioning and distribution of olfactory receptors inside and outside the nervous system offer new understanding of their structure–activity relationship. Indeed, this has also provided a tremendous stimulus to researchers to carry out vibrant multidisciplinary research aimed at offering for the first time a mechanistic understanding of aromatherapy. Chemodiversity is key to rationalize their properties in these regards. Essential oil components, such as terpenoids, have gained importance as building blocks for the synthesis of novel drugs and the uses of camphor and limonene to obtain multipotent derivatives of cannabidiol represent some examples. Terpenoids and phenylpropanoids are also being investigated as renewable feedstocks in the green chemical industry to replace fossil sources of olefins. At the same time, they serve as templates for bioinspired novel materials.

This Special Issue welcomes original research articles and reviews on the many aspects of the chemistry of essential oils and their components, including but not limited to their role in drug discovery, in the development of sustainable or bioinspired materials, their role as antioxidants, the aspects related to their analysis and characterization, and advancements in the methods for their extraction.

Prof. Dr. Luca Valgimigli
Guest Editor

Simone Gabbanini
Guest Editor Assistant

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