Andrade, MarianaSantos, RegianeSanches-silva, Ana2022-11-212022-11-212021-04In: Malik S. (ed). Exploring Plant Cells for the Production of Compounds of Interest. Springer, Cham., 2021. pp 145-70. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58271-5_6http://hdl.handle.net/10400.18/8322Essential oils have been used since the discovery of fre by many civiliza tions. Alchemists used to produce the Quinta essentia by distillation, which now is known as essential oils. This review aims to provide a systematic overview of the composition in terms of active compounds and main biological activities of differ ent essential oils. In general terms, these include anti-infammatory, antidepressant, antioxidant, antitumor, antimicrobial, anticancer, and antimutagenic activities. In addition, the techniques to extract and evaluate their composition are dis cussed. Moreover, their main industrial applications, especially the application as favors and fragrances, in pharmaceutical and medicinal industry, in alternative medicines, in cosmetic industry, and in food industry are also reviewed and dis cussed in order to identify the future trends. Finally, the biotechnological produc tion of essential oils and their components was also assessed.engEssential OilsBiological PropertiesBiosynthesisBiotechnologyChemical AnalysisIndustrial ApplicationsSegurança AlimentarComposição dos Alimentosbook part10.1007/978-3-030-58271-5_6