**Preface to "Chemistry of Essential Oils and Food Flavours"**

Essential oils have important functions in nature. In addition to serving important functions in nature, essential oils are used commercially as in flavours, fragrances and healthcare products. Their properties present a challenge with respect to investigating their chemical structure, function, bioactivity, analysis and commercialization as value-added products. Analytical techniques for the investigation of essential oil chemistry are forever changing. The sophistication, adulteration or imitation of natural products is becoming difficult to detect, as the perpetrators of such adulterations also use modern techniques. Consequently, an understanding of the chemistry of essential oils that keeps abreast with the latest in instrumental and computational developments is paramount.

Thus, the objective of this Special Issue is to broadcast the latest advances in essential oil discoveries with respect to oil chemistry, methodology, instrumentation, bioactivity, chemical ecology, biosynthesis and authentication, especially in relation to foods.

> **Ian Southwell and Oscar N ´u ˜nez** *Editors*

## *Editorial* **Editorial for the Special Issue, "Chemistry of Essential Oils and Food Flavours"**

**Ian Southwell 1,\* and Oscar Núñez 2,3**


Essential oils have important functions in nature. In addition, they are used commercially in categories such as flavors, fragrances, and health-care products. Their properties present a challenge when investigating their chemical composition, function, bioactivity, analysis, and commercialization as value-added products. Analytical techniques for the investigation of essential oil chemistry are continuously evolving. The sophistication, adulteration, or imitation of natural products is becoming difficult to detect as the perpetrators employ modern techniques. Consequently, an understanding of the chemistry of essential oils that keeps abreast with current instrumental and computational developments is paramount.

Thus, the objective of this Special Issue is to broadcast some of the latest progress in essential oil discoveries concerning oil chemistry, methodology, instrumentation, bioactivity, chemical ecology, biosynthesis, and authentication, especially regarding foods.

This Special Issue will be useful for all readers in terms of the novel information it provides on the chemistry of essential oils and food flavors.

The special issue includes five Research Articles and two Reviews, which are briefly described as follows:


**Citation:** Southwell, I.; Núñez, O. Editorial for the Special Issue, "Chemistry of Essential Oils and Food Flavours". *Foods* **2022**, *11*, 2182. https://doi.org/10.3390/ foods11152182

Received: 13 July 2022 Accepted: 19 July 2022 Published: 22 July 2022

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**Copyright:** © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

their wide range of biological activities, making them interesting nutraceuticals for dietary supplements. Arigò et al. [2], in the study "Dietary Intake of Coumarins and Furocoumarins through Citrus Beverages: A Detailed Estimation by an HPLC-MS/MS Method Combined with the Linear Retention Index System", quantified 35 oxygen heterocyclic compounds (FCs, PMFs, and Cs) in various drinks to obtain informative data useful for the regulatory authorities for the establishment of official limits.


unrivalled source of lemon constituents, details of the taxonomy, etymology, habit, distribution, chemotypes, agronomy, uses, essential oil, oil chemistry, plant bioactivity, toxicology, standards, and commerce are examined. BC is compared with other sources of lemon constituents to determine its superiority. The plant's applications for flavour, fragrance, and health care are highlighted. The work also studies the plant's chemistry and its use for determining authenticity via Australian and International standardisation [10,11]. Health-care investigations on both the oil and extract are outlined, and its safety and toxicology (e.g. GRAS status) are highlighted. It also attempts to summarise the current commercial situation regarding production, value, and markets [12].

**Author Contributions:** I.S. and O.N., writing. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare no conflict of interest.

#### **References**

