Plants as Source of Essential Oils and Perfumery Applications

Plants as Source of Essential Oils and Perfumery Applications

Essential oils (EOs) are complex liquid mixtures consisting of volatile organic compounds of vegetable origin, with a fragrant, insoluble in water, soluble in organic solvents or fats. EOs are extracted from flowers, leaves, fruits, bark and sometimes from the wood (camphor wood), using organic solvents or by distillation and steam entrainment. Chemically, the EOs is composed of mixtures of terpene hydrocarbons, aromatic hydrocarbons, terpenoids (alcohols, aldehydes, ketones), organic acids, pigments, ethers, esters, etc. One and the same essential oil can contain up to 50 different substances. Of these compounds, the most important are “terpene hydrocarbons” or terpenoid compounds and terpenoids appointed isoprenoids (mono-, sesqui-, di-, ses-, and triterpenes, monoterpenic alcohols, etc.) and their derivatives. In small quantities they contain classes of aliphatic compounds (alcohols, aldehydes, aliphatic esters, etc.), aromatics, macrocyclics and their derivatives (amines, organic sulfides, heterocyclic compounds, etc.). Among the compounds contained in a relatively large number of EOs can be highlighted: borneol, camphor, camphor, cedrol, eugenol, geraniol, limonene, linalool, menthol and myrcene, etc.