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

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 2400 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.

• essential oils
• isolation and structural elucidation
• synthetic and semi-synthetic methods
• chemometrics
• chemotaxonomy
• bioactive compounds and biological activity
• medicinal and aromatic plants
• structure–activity relationships (SAR)