Molecules

Olive oil flavoring is gaining attention as a means of improving sensory characteristics, nutritional quality, and oxidative stability. However, current evidence remains fragmented across botanical ingredients, operating conditions, and production methods. This review critically compares conventional approaches, including maceration, infusion, co-processing, and direct addition, with emerging processing strategies. Particular attention is given to the transfer of phenolic and volatile compounds, extraction performance, oil quality, energy demand, scalability, economic viability, and regulatory considerations. Conventional methods are generally accessible and cost-effective, but extended contact times and the use of fresh plant materials may increase acidity and peroxide value. Emerging technologies can accelerate and improve the control of mass transfer while promoting the recovery or retention of bioactive and aroma compounds. Nevertheless, their performance varies with the plant matrix, olive cultivar, operational parameters, and production scale. Wider commercial application is also constrained by limited standardization, substantial equipment costs, insufficient long-term evidence, and uncertain regulatory frameworks. Future studies should develop comparable protocols, explore combined processing strategies, evaluate product quality and safety during storage, and conduct robust techno-economic assessments. Validation under pilot- and full-scale conditions in diverse geographical and regulatory settings will be essential to support the safe, consistent, and economically viable production of flavored olive oils.

The general objective of this study was to evaluate Eucalyptus globulus bark extract as a candidate component of wood preservatives with a reduced load of synthetic biocides. Extraction conditions were screened using a 2³ full factorial design with a center point, identifying 75 °C, 60% ethanol and 1 h as the highest-yielding conditions (5.94%) within the tested ranges. In four-week laboratory wood-block assays, the extract alone did not exceed 40% inhibition of wood-staining fungi, whereas hinokitiol reached complete inhibition at 0.4%. Combining the extract (5%) with hinokitiol (0.4%) achieved 95–100% inhibition, similar to the synthetic reference; because hinokitiol alone reached complete inhibition at this concentration, the extract’s contribution could not be isolated, and formulations in which the extract or hinokitiol was used instead of chlorothalonil and carbendazim alongside a copper-8-quinolinolate product retained 97–100% inhibition at half, and 90–93% at a quarter, of the copper-product dose (87% and 93% reductions in synthetic active ingredients), although the copper product alone was also fully effective at 2% and the contribution of the natural components could not be isolated at that dose. On a per-mass basis, the extract (48 h LC₅₀ 27,500 ppm) was approximately 710-fold less acutely toxic than the copper-8-quinolinolate product used as synthetic reference (38.71 ppm) in Daphnia magna bioassays. On the basis of its composition and the literature, the extract may contribute multi-target antifungal mechanisms, including metal chelation, enzyme inhibition and membrane disruption, that could complement the more stable action of hinokitiol; these mechanisms were not measured here. This work supports eucalyptus bark extract, a residue that is abundant in Chile and in other eucalypt-pulp-producing countries, as a candidate component of reduced-synthetic (hybrid) wood-protection formulations; the aquatic toxicity of the final formulations was not tested, and leaching, penetration and field-durability testing are required before practical or environmental benefits can be claimed.

Antibiotic resistance limits infected-wound treatment and motivates the search for antibiotic-independent antibacterial materials. Here we report monodisperse PtPdCuFe high-entropy alloy (HEA) nanozymes with multi-enzyme activities, 2.14 ± 0.18 nm in diameter, prepared by oleylamine-assisted pyrolysis. We propose that synergistic metal interactions and abundant defects may endow the nanozymes with pH-gated peroxidase-like (POD-like), catalase-like (CAT-like), and superoxide dismutase-like (SOD-like) activities. At pH 5.5, the nanozymes exert POD-like activity to decompose H₂O₂ into hydroxyl radicals (•OH), triggering an ROS burst that destroys the bacterial wall, causes intracellular content leakage, and ultimately kills bacteria. At pH 7.4, they exert SOD- and CAT-like activities: ~84% of H₂O₂ was removed within 25 min and O₂ rose to ~50% within 60 s, indicating potential to alleviate wound hypoxia, yet to be validated in future animal experiments. At the lowest effective concentration tested (16 µg·mL⁻¹), bactericidal efficiencies against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus were ~56% and ~57%, respectively. At 64 µg·mL⁻¹, killing reached ~90%, with >90% of bacteria showing severe membrane disruption and protein leakage. At this concentration, ~90% of mammalian cells remained viable and the hemolysis rate stayed below 5%.