ABSTRACT
Plant materials and by-products are important sources of essential oils. These oils have extreme relevance for agronomic, food, and pharmacological industries due to their great variety of biological activities. Nowadays, several conventional methods and emerging technologies have been investigated for the extraction of different compounds in order to study their yield, physicochemical, and functional properties in different areas. In this sense, this document reports recent information about importance and benefits of essential oils, their functional properties on foodstuffs, and their application in agronomic and cosmetic areas. In addition, more suitable methodologies applied for their extraction and characterization are presented. Finally, an overview of patents required to protect several essential oil–based products was reviewed.
