Mukhopadhyay, Asim K.

Essential Oils

Essential oils are the odorous constituents in various plant parts. At ordinary or ambient temperatures they evaporate easily when exposed to air and hence they are also called volatile oils. They are called essential oils because they represent the essence or active constituents of the plants. Essential oils are found in buds, flowers, leaves, bark, stems, fruits, seeds, wood, roots and other parts of fragrant plants and herbs etc.
Essential or volatile oils, also known as aromatic oils have been used for hundreds of years. These oils either as individual constituents recovered from aromatic plants or as a mixture of a few essential oils from one or more sources, as a perfume was known in the ancient civilizations of Egypt, India, China, Greece, Rome and other countries. These were all as old as 4000-4500 B.C. In other words known ancient civilizations were generous in use of perfumes created from natural herbs and trees. Mother nature was indeed very liberal and generous in creation of a number of aromatic essential oils in botanicals for the benefit of humanity.
Modern scientists, blessed with various tools, not only succeeded in isolation of essential oils from natural plants but were also successful in synthesis of various essential oils or components of flavors and fragrances. These synthetic oils or flavors and fragrances being relatively cheap compared to natural products have been liberally used for creation of synthetic perfumes and in diversified fields encompassing medicine, organic chemical synthesis, cosmetics, toilet goods, incense sticks, and others.
Many associations and societies active in the fields of flavors and fragrances have been operating in various countries. For instance, Flavors and Fragrances Association of India (FAFAI) has been organizing a number of Seminars and Conferences and also publishing proceedings of annual conferences, and , and books and magazines which are extremely useful for continued research and development work in many of the known universities, national R&D Centers, Industrial laboratories etc. India has already established itself as a major producer of such important essential oils as Menthol, Lemon grass oil, Rose oil, Jasmine oil, Sandalwood oil, Eucalyptus oil etc. FAFAI has played a key role in popularizing essential oils including the above oils.