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Essential Oils from Traditional Medicinal Plants in Malaysia: A Review on Their Traditional Uses, Bioactive Constituents and Therapeutic Potential

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Pharmaceutical Chemistry Journal Aims and scope

Malaysia, a Southeast Asian country, is well known for its tropical rainforest. Malaysia has approximately 15,000 species of vascular plants. Among these, 2,000 plant species are estimated to possess medicinal values. Medicinal plants have promising therapeutic potential in treating certain illnesses and health disorders. They have been regarded as an important source of drugs and/or therapeutic agents. Essential oils (EOs), or known as aromatic oils, are a complex mixture of volatile chemical constituents extracted from various parts of plants. Over the years, EOs are gaining wide attention from the scientific community owing to their broad spectrum of pharmacological activities. To date, EOs are extensively used in flavour and fragrance, food and pharmaceutical industries. The present review focused on the traditional medicinal plants from Malaysia along with the extracted EOs, major chemical constituents and potent pharmacological activities. This review serves as an important reference for the discovery and developments of bioactive EOs from traditional medicinal plants.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to acknowledge Universiti Sains Malaysia and Universiti Kuala Lumpur for providing the assistance and support to the present review study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemistry Section, School of Distance Education, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia

    Wen-Nee Tan

  2. Bioengineering Research Cluster, Malaysian Institute of Chemical and Bioengineering Technology (UniKL MICET), Universiti Kuala Lumpur, 78000 , Melaka, Alor Gajah, Malaysia

    Ruzainah Ali

  3. Drug Discovery and Delivery Research Laboratory, Malaysian Institute of Chemical and Bioengineering Technology (UniKL MICET), Universiti Kuala Lumpur, 78000 , Melaka, Alor Gajah, Malaysia

    Woei-Yenn Tong & Chean-Ring Leong

  4. School of Pharmacy, Monash University Malaysia, 47500, Bandar Sunway, Selangor, Malaysia

    Kooi-Yeong Khaw

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  1. Wen-Nee Tan
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Tan, WN., Ali, R., Tong, WY. et al. Essential Oils from Traditional Medicinal Plants in Malaysia: A Review on Their Traditional Uses, Bioactive Constituents and Therapeutic Potential. Pharm Chem J 57, 703–711 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11094-023-02941-x

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