Most people either use essential oils for their therapeutic effect or for the fragrance alone. However it is worth leaning about the chemistry of essential oils as it can shed light on a variety of information:

• It is the chemistry of essential oil that helps indicate if your essential oil is adulterated or contains solvents. Therapeutic grade essential oils don't contain propylene glycol or petrochemicals. AFNOR standards for essential oils are solely based on the chemistry of the essential oil.

• Chemistry analysis will show you if a plant has a Chemotype.

• The individual chemical constituents can identify the medicinal properties of the oil.

 

It is not only interesting to know the chemical components that each essential oil contains, but also to be aware of the fact that we are unable to synthetically create an identical oil to those produced by nature. Synthetically created oils will not have the same therapeutic effect as the natural and pure essential oil. And though we pride ourselves on being a technology advanced society, modern science can still not unlock the secrets of essential oils and why they can do what they do.

If you for instance took all the correct chemical components, which will include lavandulol, borneol, terpineol, geraniol and linalol, and try to make up Lavender essential oil in a laboratory, you will not have an oil that can successfully treat burns the way that true Lavender oil can.
 

Essential oils, like all organic compounds, are made up of hydrocarbon molecules and can further be classified as terpenes, alcohols, esters, aldehydes, ketones and phenols etc.

To help you in the understanding of the chemical constituents of the oils, it may be a good idea just to have a look at what an isoprene unit is.

Every single oil normally has more than a hundred components, but this figure can also run into thousands, depending on the oil in question.

When you analyse essential oils with a chromatograph various organic components are found and the primary ones are as follows:

• Terpene hydrocarbons

  • Monoterpene hydrocarbons

  • Sesquiterpenes

• Oxygenated compounds

  • Phenols

  • Alcohols

    • Monoterpene alcohols

    • Sesquiterpene alcohols

  • Aldehydes

  • Ketones

  • Esters

  • Lactones

  • Coumarins

  • Ethers

  • Oxides