Dear Colleagues,

Plants are sessile organisms that synthesize a variety of secondary metabolites in order to better protect themselves against external impediments. These volatiles are synthesized in every part of the plant, including the roots, seeds, stems, leaves, and fruits, but the flowers give off the highest amount as well as the widest variety of VOCs. Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and color compounds are among the most well-known plant specialized metabolites. VOCs are required for interacting with other organisms in mutualistic (e.g., attracting beneficial insects such as pollinators) or hostile interactions both below and above ground (e.g., warning against pathogens and herbivores). Several reports have shown that plants release de novo-synthesized VOCs into the air in response to herbivore damage to protect themselves from the attackers, while these VOCs can simultaneously also act as potential triggers to prime defenses in undamaged neighboring plants and undamaged parts of the same plant. Terpenoids emitted into the atmosphere also play an important role in plant defense against abiotic and biotic stress. Plants release VOCs below ground not only to detect their adjacent community and prepare for or avoid competition with neighboring plants, but also to act as warning signals to nearby plants under certain conditions. Moreover, climate change (e.g., elevated temperature, drought-stress-elevated CO₂, and O₃) has had a substantial impact on plant quality as well as plant–plant and plant–environment interactions both below and above ground. The effects of climate change factors on the production and emission of VOCs into the atmosphere have recently been demonstrated, which could impact their ecological and biological activities. Overall, changes in the biosynthesis, emission, and functions of VOCs as a result of climate change potentially affect plant–insect interactions, making the resulting ecosystem evolution an interesting and important field of study.

There is still a great need to research VOCs from different sources, to report their distribution and chemical profiles, and to discover new compounds. This Special Issue aims to attract up-to-date contributions on all aspects of VOC chemistry (from challenges in their isolation and analysis to their synthesis) and on unlocking their biological activities or other useful properties.

Dr. Farhat Abbas
Dr. Brian Farneti
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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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.

• volatile organic compounds
• biosynthesis and emission
• VOCs in plant–plant and plant–environment interaction
• VOCs in insect/microbe/pathogen/signaling mechanism
• novel approaches in volatile isolation/analysis/synthesis
• fruits/food and beverages
• essential oils
• biological activities
• application of omics technologies