From Plant to Product: Process-Centric Advances in Essential Oils—Extraction, Modeling, Standardization, and Use

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of Processes focuses on process-centric advances across the essential-oil value chain, from sustainable sourcing and green/intensified extraction to quantitative, structure-aware profiling, digital quality control, and translational applications in foods, pharma, cosmetics, agriculture, and biotechnology. We invite contributions that couple innovative unit operations (e.g., hydrodistillation optimization, microwave/ohmic/ultrasound-assisted extraction, supercritical/subcritical fluids, pressurized liquid extraction) with modeling, control, and optimization (DoE, QbD, PAT) to deliver reproducible quality, techno-economic viability, and scale-up readiness.

A core emphasis is analytical and structural rigor. We welcome studies that move beyond “percent lists” toward validated, quantitative, and stereochemically resolved profiles including qNMR, enantioselective/chiral GC, robust retention-index strategies, co-injection with authentic standards (or well-justified synthetic/semisynthetic surrogates), and integrated NMR-MS workflows for structure elucidation (isomerism, conformational dynamics). We also encourage chemometrics and AI (signal deconvolution, RI/RT prediction, class modeling, adulteration/authentication) and digital twins of extraction/processing steps.

Bridging chemistry with application, we especially seek mechanism-aware bioactivity papers (antimicrobial/anti-inflammatory, insecticidal/repellent, neuro/dermato-applications), formulation and delivery (nanoencapsulation, controlled release, stability), and process sustainability (LCA, circular bioeconomy, waste/by-product valorization). By uniting process engineering, analytical chemistry, organic synthesis, and chemical ecology/chemotaxonomy, this Special Issue aims to set best-practice standards for essential-oil research that is reproducible, scalable, and industry-relevant.

Dr. Marko Mladenović
Prof. Dr. Niko Radulović
Guest Editors

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