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Chemical Analyses and Applications of Essential Oils

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

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 July 2024 | Viewed by 3668

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Prof. Dr. Anna Malm

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Department of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Medical University of Lublin, Chodzki Str. 1, 20-093 Lublin, Poland
Interests: medical microbiology; antimicrobial compounds of synthetic and natural origin; human microbiota
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Prof. Dr. Wirginia Kukula-Koch

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Chair and Department of Pharmacognosy with Medicinal Plants Garden, Medical University of Lublin, Chodzki Str., 20-093 Lublin, Poland
Interests: natural products chemistry; chromatography; mass spectrometry; bioactivity testing; secondary metabolites; countercurrent chromatography
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Dear Colleagues,

Essential oils (EOs) are complex mixtures of volatile compounds obtained from materials derived mainly from aromatic plants. These natural products are particularly interesting as they exhibit a wide variety of biological effects, including antimicrobial, antiviral, antioxidant, antiamnestic, nematicidal, expectorant, anti-inflammatory, diuretic properties, etc.

The multidirectional biological properties of EOs result in their potential applications in various medicine and veterinary fields as well as in several branches of industry, such as the cosmetics, food, and agricultural industries.

The purpose of this Special Issue is to increase the knowledge of different approaches for the chemical analysis of liquid and vapor phases of EOs and the isolation of single components from the biological matrix as well as to correlate the chemical data with the bioactivity of EOs and their compounds in the aspect of the exploration of their new potential applications.

Prof. Dr. Anna Malm
Prof. Dr. Wirginia Kukula-Koch
Guest Editors

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Keywords

essential oils
bioactive compounds
liquid phase
vapor phase
potential applications

Published Papers (3 papers)

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18 pages, 4838 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Chemical Composition of Piper nigrum L. Cultivar Guajarina Essential Oils and Their Biological Activity

by Bruna de Souza Feitosa, Oberdan Oliveira Ferreira, Celeste de Jesus Pereira Franco, Himani Karakoti, Ravendra Kumar, Marcia Moraes Cascaes, Rahul D. Jawarkar, Suraj N. Mali, Jorddy Neves Cruz, Ilmarina Campos de Menezes, Mozaniel Santana de Oliveira and Eloisa Helena de Aguiar Andrade

Molecules 2024, 29(5), 947; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules29050947 - 21 Feb 2024

Viewed by 696

Abstract

The essential oils and aroma derived from the leaves (L), stems (St), and spikes (s) of Piper nigrum L. cv. Guajarina were extracted; the essential oils were extracted using hydrodistillation (HD), and steam distillation (SD), and the aroma was obtained by simultaneous distillation and extraction (SDE). Chemical constituents were identified and quantified using GC/MS and GC-FID. Preliminary biological activity was assessed by determining the toxicity against Artemia salina Leach larvae, calculating mortality rates, and determining lethal concentration values (LC₅₀). The predominant compounds in essential oil samples included α-pinene (0–5.6%), β-pinene (0–22.7%), limonene (0–19.3%), 35 linalool (0–5.3%), δ-elemene (0–10.1%), β-caryophyllene (0.5–21.9%), γ-elemene (7.5–33.9%), and curzerene (6.9–31.7%). Multivariate analysis, employing principal component analysis (PCA) and hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA), revealed three groups among the identified classes and two groups among individual compounds. The highest antioxidant activity was found for essential oils derived from the leaves (167.9 41 mg TE mL⁻¹). Larvicidal potential against A. salina was observed in essential oils obtained from the leaves (LC50 6.40 μg mL⁻¹) and spikes (LC₅₀ 6.44 μg mL⁻¹). The in silico studies demonstrated that the main compounds can interact with acetylcholinesterase, thus showing the potential molecular interaction responsible for the toxicity of the essential oil in A. salina. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Analyses and Applications of Essential Oils)

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14 pages, 5477 KiB

Open AccessArticle

RNA-Seq-Based Transcriptomics and GC–MS Quantitative Analysis Reveal Antifungal Mechanisms of Essential Oil of Clausena lansium (Lour.) Skeels Seeds against Candida albicans

by Yinzheng Ma, Jinlei Sui, Yan Wang, Wanying Sun, Guohui Yi, Jinyan Wu, Shi Qiu, Lili Wang, Aihua Zhang and Xiaowen He

Molecules 2023, 28(24), 8052; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28248052 - 12 Dec 2023

Viewed by 755

Abstract

Infections caused by Candida albicans (C. albicans) and increasing resistance to commonly used drugs lead to a variety of mucosal diseases and systemic infectious diseases. We previously confirmed that the essential oil of Clausena lansium (Lour.) Skeels seeds (CSEO) had antifungal activity against C. albicans, but the detailed mechanism between the chemical components and antifungal activity is unclear. In this study, a quantitative analysis of five volatile components of CSEO, including sabinene, α-phellandrene, β-phellandrene, 4-terpineol, and β-caryophyllene, was carried out using the gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) method. Both the broth dilution and kinetic growth methods proved that the antifungal activity of CSEO against fluconazole-resistant C. albicans was better than that of its main components (sabinene and 4-terpineol). To further investigate the inhibitory mechanism, the transcriptional responses of C. albicans to CSEO, sabinene, and 4-terpineol treatment were determined based on RNA-seq. The Venn diagram and clustering analysis pattern of differential expression genes showed the mechanism of CSEO and 4-terpineol’s anti-C. albicans activity might be similar from the perspective of the genes. Functional enrichment analysis suggested that CSEO regulated adherence-, hyphae-, and biofilm-formation-related genes, which may be CSEO’s active mechanism of inhibiting the growth of fluconazole-resistant C. albicans. Overall, we preliminarily revealed the molecular mechanism between the chemical components and the antifungal activity of CSEO against C. albicans. This study provides new insights to overcome the azole resistance of C. albicans and promote the development and application of C. lansium (Lour.) Skeels seeds. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Analyses and Applications of Essential Oils)

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14 pages, 1174 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Volatile Composition, Antimicrobial Activity, and In Vitro Innate Immunomodulatory Activity of Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench Essential Oils

by Noura S. Dosoky, Liliya N. Kirpotina, Igor A. Schepetkin, Andrei I. Khlebnikov, Brent L. Lisonbee, Jeffrey L. Black, Hillary Woolf, Trever L. Thurgood, Brittany L. Graf, Prabodh Satyal and Mark T. Quinn

Molecules 2023, 28(21), 7330; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules28217330 - 29 Oct 2023

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1622

Abstract

Echinacea purpurea (L.) Moench is a medicinal plant commonly used for the treatment of upper respiratory tract infections, the common cold, sore throat, migraine, colic, stomach cramps, and toothaches and the promotion of wound healing. Based on the known pharmacological properties of essential oils (EOs), we hypothesized that E. purpurea EOs may contribute to these medicinal properties. In this work, EOs from the flowers of E. purpurea were steam-distilled and analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), GC with flame-ionization detection (GC–FID), and chiral GC–MS. The EOs were also evaluated for in vitro antimicrobial and innate immunomodulatory activity. About 87 compounds were identified in five samples of the steam-distilled E. purpurea EO. The major components of the E. purpurea EO were germacrene D (42.0 ± 4.61%), α-phellandrene (10.09 ± 1.59%), β-caryophyllene (5.75 ± 1.72%), γ-curcumene (5.03 ± 1.96%), α-pinene (4.44 ± 1.78%), δ-cadinene (3.31 ± 0.61%), and β-pinene (2.43 ± 0.98%). Eleven chiral compounds were identified in the E. purpurea EO, including α-pinene, sabinene, β-pinene, α-phellandrene, limonene, β-phellandrene, α-copaene, β-elemene, β-caryophyllene, germacrene D, and δ-cadinene. Analysis of E. purpurea EO antimicrobial activity showed that they inhibited the growth of several bacterial species, although the EO did not seem to be effective for Staphylococcus aureus. The E. purpurea EO and its major components induced intracellular calcium mobilization in human neutrophils. Additionally, pretreatment of human neutrophils with the E. purpurea EO or (+)-δ-cadinene suppressed agonist-induced neutrophil calcium mobilization and chemotaxis. Moreover, pharmacophore mapping studies predicted two potential MAPK targets for (+)-δ-cadinene. Our results are consistent with previous reports on the innate immunomodulatory activities of β-caryophyllene, α-phellandrene, and germacrene D. Thus, this study identified δ-cadinene as a novel neutrophil agonist and suggests that δ-cadinene may contribute to the reported immunomodulatory activity of E. purpurea. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chemical Analyses and Applications of Essential Oils)

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