From boosting your mood and improving your sleep patterns, to reducing anxiety, assisting with pain-relief, relieving headaches, and much more: the benefits of using essential oils are endless.
So, have you ever wondered how to make your own essential oil? Interestingly, essential oils cannot be made but are, instead, extracted from plant materials. Popular plants to use for essential oils include lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint and lemon.
Understanding essential oil’s chemical structure
Essential oil, according to this researcher, is mainly made up of terpenes, terpenoids and phenylpropanoids. However, essential oil is also quite diverse in chemical structures, as it has chemical compositions and a variety of properties.
The extractions obtain these mentioned plants’ active botanical constituents, which are also known as the life force that allows the plant to function.
Essential oils, also called volatile odoriferous oil, are aromatic oily liquids extracted from different parts of plants, for example, leaves, peels, barks, flowers, buds, seeds, and so on.
Simply put, essential oils are the liquefied version of a plant.
Using enzymes to extract essential oils
A common form of essential oil extraction includes the use of enzymes (proteins that help speed up metabolism, or the chemical reactions in our bodies).
These enzymes can include anything from pectinase and amylase to lignocellulose and cellulose. These metabolism enzymes act as catalysts for the hydrolysis process to take place.
Why are oils extracted from plants?
By, in essence, liquefying a plant, essential oils obtain many uses. Most commonly, essential oils are used to be inhaled, due to their scent and therapeutic properties.
Essential oil can also be used in diffusers, or be diluted to apply to your skin. By liquefying a plant, its beneficial compounds will also reach the bloodstream faster than, for example, if someone was to simply consume the plant.
References
https://ift.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1750-3841.12492
https://www.healthline.com/health/how-to-use-essential-oils
