Flavour and Fragrance Journal 

About: Flavour and Fragrance Journal is an academic journal published by Wiley. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Essential oil & Aroma. It has an ISSN identifier of 0882-5734. Over the lifetime, 2449 publications have been published receiving 69086 citations. The journal is also known as: Flavour & Fragrance Journal.

Factors affecting secondary metabolite production in plants: volatile components and essential oils

Abstract: The presence, yield and composition of secondary metabolites in plants, viz. the volatile components and those occurring in essential oils, can be affected in a number of ways, from their formation in the plant to their final isolation. Several of the factors of influence have been studied, in particular for commercially important crops, to optimize the cultivation conditions and time of harvest and to obtain higher yields of high-quality essential oils that fit market requirements. In addition to the commercial importance of the variability in yield and composition, the possible changes are also important when the essential oils and volatiles are used as chemotaxonomic tools. Knowledge of the factors that determine the chemical variability and yield for each species are thus very important. These include: (a) physiological variations; (b) environmental conditions; (c) geographic variations; (d) genetic factors and evolution; (e) political/social conditions; and also (f) amount of plant material/space and manual labour needs. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Antimicrobial and antioxidant properties of some commercial essential oils

Abstract: The essential oil composition of Cananga odorata, Boswellia thurifera, Cymbopogon citratus, Marjorana hortensis, Ocimum basilicum, Rosmarinus officinalis, Cinnamomum zeylanicum and Citrus limon was analysed by GC and GC–MS, and their antimicrobial and antioxidant activity tested. Twenty-five different genera of bacteria and one fungal species were used in this study as test organisms. These included animal and plant pathogens, food poisoning and spoilage bacteria and the spoilage fungus Aspergillus niger. The volatile oils exhibited considerable inhibitory effect against all the tested organisms. The oils also demonstrated antioxidant capacities, comparable with α-tocopherol and butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT). The method adopted in this study was the modified thiobarbituric acid reactive species (TBARS) assay. The antioxidant activity was carried out under different conditions by using egg yolk and rat liver in the absence and presence of the radical inducer 2,2′-azobis (2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (ABAP). © 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

A review on cyclodextrin encapsulation of essential oils and volatiles

Abstract: Cyclodextrins (CyDs) are cyclic carbohydrates derived from starch. The parent CyDs contain six, seven and eight glucopyranose units and are referred as α-, β- and γ-CyD, respectively. The most important property of the CyDs is the ability to establish specific interactions - molecular encapsulation - with various types of molecules through the formation of non-covalently bonded entities, either in the solid phase or in aqueous solution. These nano-encapsulating agents may form inclusion complexes with essential oils and volatiles, or their components, in order to improve their characteristics, such as transformation of liquid compounds into crystalline form; masking unpleasant smells and tastes of some compounds; improving the physical and/or chemical stability; and stabilizing volatile compounds by reducing or eliminating any losses through evaporation. Complexation has been used to avoid the destruction of certain flavours by processing or, on storage, allowing the use of minor amounts of flavours. The guest molecule is released in the warm moisture of the mouth. Examples are spices, essential oils of vegetable origin and plant flavours, chamomile oil and extract, eucalyptus oil, fennel oil, lemon oil, onion and garlic oil, camphor, menthol, thymol, etc. There are several methods for the preparation of inclusion complexes; kneading, co-precipitation, freeze-drying and spray-drying the most commonly used. Evidence for a guest inclusion into the apolar CyD cavity may be proved by various analytical techniques, including NMR spectroscopy, UV-visible absorption spectroscopy, optical rotatory dispersion and circular dichroism, fluorescence, infrared/FT-IR spectroscopy, thermo-analysis, TLC, mass spectromety, and powder X-ray diffractometry. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

The role of structure and molecular properties of terpenoids in determining their antimicrobial activity.

Abstract: The minimum inhibitory concentrations (MIC) of 60 terpenoids against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans have been determined. Hierarchical cluster analysis was used to group the compounds into five groups according to their activity patterns against the four microorganisms. K-Means cluster analysis was then used to confirm these groupings and to show the differences in the activity patterns of the groups. Ten molecular properties of the terpenoids, either calculated via molecular modelling or determined by direct measurement, were then used as variables in a forward stepwise discriminant analysis to identify which variables discriminated between groups. Low water solubility of Group IV compounds, mainly hydrocarbons and acetates, was found to be associated with their relative inactivity. The remaining groups, all containing oxygenated terpenoids, showed characteristic but distinct activity patterns towards the four test organisms. Hydrogen bonding parameters were found to be associated with antimicrobial activity in all cases. Activity against Gram-negative E. coli and P. aeruginosa was associated with a combination of a hydrogen bonding and size parameters. This was not found to be the case for the Gram-positive S. aureus or the yeast C. albicans. Copyright © 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Biological properties of essential oils: an updated review

Abstract: In the last few years more and more studies on the biological properties of essential oils have been published and it seemed worthwhile to compile the studies of 2009, 2008 and the second part of 2007. Such an overview covering the scientific literature mainly from 2000 onwards, up to the first half of the year 2007, has been published recently. The focus of this overview lies on the anti-nociceptive, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, penetration-enhancing, insect repellent, antiviral and antioxidative properties of essential oils. Many essential oils have been used for centuries in folk medicine and in recent years the biological properties of various essential oils have been proved by a number of studies. Their use in the treatment of pain, inflammation, viral diseases and cancer and their potential to enhance the penetration of other drugs, their insect repellent activity and their antioxidative effects were confirmed. Nonetheless, more studies are necessary to analyse the biological properties of other essential oils or to prove their mechanism of action. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.