Litsea cubeba essential oil: phytochemistry, bioactivity-driven applications and extraction

Area of Science:

• Natural Product Chemistry
• Phytochemistry
• Sustainable Chemistry

Background:

• Litsea cubeba essential oil (EO) is gaining market demand across food, pharmaceutical, daily chemical, and agrochemical sectors.
• Its diverse applications are driven by bioactivities like antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory effects.
• Understanding compositional variation and extraction influences is key to optimizing EO utilization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To provide a comprehensive overview of Litsea cubeba essential oil (EO).
• To systematically examine traditional and emerging extraction techniques, their impacts on EO yield, and chemical profiles.
• To discuss the bioactivities and applications of Litsea cubeba EO, proposing a broader evaluation framework and sustainable strategies.

Main Methods:

• Review of traditional (hydrodistillation, steam distillation) and emerging (ultrasound-, microwave-, enzyme-, deep eutectic solvent-assisted) extraction methods.
• Analysis of factors influencing EO chemical profile and yield, including geographical origin, harvest season, plant part, and extraction technique.
• Evaluation of EO bioactivities and their underlying mechanisms.

Main Results:

• Extraction methods significantly impact Litsea cubeba EO yield and chemical composition.
• Factors like origin, season, and plant part also influence EO profile and bioactivities.
• Novel techniques show promise but may overestimate yield; organic solvents and supercritical fluids can co-extract non-volatiles.

Conclusions:

• A broader evaluation framework considering efficiency, economics, and environmental impact is needed for extraction methods.
• Cascaded utilization strategies, like recovering kernel oils for biodiesel, promote resource efficiency and sustainable development.
• Future research should focus on bioactivity mechanisms, formulation stability, and high-purity citral separation for value-added applications.