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

This review provides a comprehensive overview of Litsea cubeba essential oil (EO), covering its extraction methods, compositional variation, bioactivities, and applications. It systematically examines both traditional (e.g., hydrodistillation, steam distillation) and emerging extraction techniques (e.g., ultrasound-, microwave-, enzyme-, and deep eutectic solvent-assisted methods), highlighting their respective advantages and limitations. A key focus is placed on how multiple factors-including geographical origin, harvest season, plant part, and extraction method-interact to influence the EO chemical profile and yield, which in turn determine its bioactivities. The growing market demand across food, pharmaceutical, daily chemical, and agrochemical sectors is discussed, with particular emphasis on how bioactivity-driven mechanisms (e.g., antioxidant, antimicrobial, and anti-inflammatory effects) underpin its diverse applications. While novel techniques offer improved efficiency, the review critically notes that methods using organic solvents or supercritical fluids may overestimate yield by co-extracting nonvolatiles. Moreover, a broader evaluation framework incorporating extraction efficiency, economic viability, and environmental impact is proposed. To promote resource-efficient utilization, a cascaded strategy-such as recovering kernel oils for biodiesel after EO distillation-is recommended for sustainable development. Finally, future interdisciplinary research should prioritize elucidating bioactivity mechanisms including synergistic/antagonistic interactions among EO components, enhancing formulation stability, and advancing high-purity citral separation technologies for value-added applications.