Abstract
Medicinal plants have been used since ancient times in the treatment of diseases, and this is confirmed by scientists and sages, where herbal medicine is the oldest known method of medicine, and a number of countries still rely on plants to treat their diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) has pointed out a large number of the world's population depends on the use of medicinal herbs as a primary medicine for the treatment of a number of diseases. The global census of medicinal plants is estimated at about 300,000 species, and only 2,500 plants are classified, as there are in some parts of medicinal plants more than 50 compounds and one of the most important effective compounds found in medicinal plants are volatile oils or aromatic oils.
Keywords
Antioxidants
medicinal plants
volatile oils
Abstract
Plants are the main source of the production of herbal volatile oils, followed by animal sources of amber, which is extracted from the amber whale, and musk, which is extracted from deer. The plantae kingdom includes more than 2000 plants containing volatile aromatic oils, which represent about sixty plant families, the most important of which are: Rosaceae, Asteraceae, Myrtaceae, Lamiaceae, Apiaceae, Rutaceae, Leuraceae, Pinaceae and Geraniaceae.Aromatic oils, which are organic compounds that are responsible for giving the plant a distinctive smell and they are easily separated from the plant parts containing them by different extraction methods. They are called volatile oils because they are characterized by evaporation and volatilization without decomposition at room temperature and they are also called essential oils for the human need for them in his food and the inability of the enzymatic cellular system in the human body to synthesize them or ethereal oil because it is soluble in alcoholic compounds such as ether, and it does not contain in its molecules fatty acids or glycerin, so it does not rancid when exposed to direct air or light, unlike fixed oils that do not volatilize, but decompose when exposed to high temperatures. Volatile oils are found in the tissues of various plant parts such as leaves, flowers, roots and stems.
Keywords
الزيوت المتطايرة
النباتات الطبية
مضادات الأكسدة