H. italicum essential oil (EO) is one of the most popular ingredients utilized by the cosmetic industry, and it is also used as natural antioxidant and as a value-added ingredient in food products. The chemical composition of the EO H. italicum cultivated in Serbia was analyzed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. The quantitative structure–retention relationship was used to predict the retention indices of the EO constituents acquired by GC-MS data, applying five molecular descriptors selected by factor analysis and a genetic algorithm. Also, antimicrobial activity, and biological activity by four common antioxidant tests (DPPH and ABTS assays, reducing power, and β-carotene bleaching test), and in vitro antihyperglycemic and anti-inflammatory capacities were evaluated. A total of 70 EO constituents were detected, of which 17 (8.5%) could not be identified. The H. italicum EO in this study belonged to γ-curcumene chemotype. The coefficients of determination reached the value of 0.964, demonstrating that this model could be used for prediction purposes. All applied tests showed that H. italicum EO possesses good biological activity and an interesting chemical composition. Therefore, the EO of H. italicum grown in Serbia has a potential to be used in food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical products.

Steam distillation was used for the isolation of Dracocephalum moldavica L. (Moldavian dragonhead) essential oil (DMEO). This aromatic herbaceous plant is widespread across the Northern Hemisphere regions and has been utilized in health-improving studies and applications. In addition to the DMEO, the hydrolate (DMH), a byproduct of the distillation process, was also collected. The DMEO and DMH were analyzed and compared in terms of their chemical composition, as well as their in vitro biological activities. The main component in DMEO was geranyl acetate, while geranial was dominant in DMH. The DMEO demonstrated better antioxidant and antimicrobial activities compared with the DMH against Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Salmonella Typhimurium, and Listeria monocytogenes, which represent sources of food-borne illness at the global level. The DMEO and DMH show promise as antioxidant and antimicrobial additives to various products.

The volatile compounds of essential oil (EO) and corresponding hydrolate (HY) extracted by steam distillation from clary sage (Salvia sclarea L.) cv "Domaća mirisna" grown in Serbia were identified using gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). The most abundant compounds of EO were linalyl acetate (43.5%) and linalool (25.9%), followed by α-terpineol, germacrene D, and geranyl acetate. In the corresponding HY (recovered water-soluble fraction of EO) the dominant were linalool (63.3%) and α-terpineol (26.8%), followed by geraniol.These differences in composition between clary sage EO and HY could be explained by linalyl acetate's low water solubility. Clustering of 55 clary sage EO accessions (from literature) shows the presence of several chemotypes: linalyl acetate+linalool, linalyl acetate+sclareol, linalool+geranyl acetate, germacrene D+β-caryophyllene, caryophyllene oxide, and three unspecified chemotypes (geranyl acetate, methyl chavicol, and α-terpineol). According to this classification, clary sage cv "Domaća mirisna" belongs to a moderate linalyl acetate chemotype (between 19.8 and 45.7%). Further investigations need to focus on clary sage HY and their potential applications because HYs could increase economic gain as a by-product. However, their utilization for other purposes (cosmetic, postharvest fruit processing, organic agriculture, etc.) could be a safe solution for wastewater produced during EO distillation.

The objective of this study was to test four-dimensional LC-ESI-MS/MS chromatography in analysis of complex mixture such as ethanol extracts of different propolis samples. In total more than 1200 picks were identified and only for 185 literature conformation was found. The given data represent the result of tentative identification, and summarized results are given in the text. Comparing the samples, from different altitudes, 96 components were detected as characteristic in high altitude samples and 18 in samples collected at low altitudes. Antimicrobial activity of ethanol extracts of propolis (EEP) and propylene glycol extracts of propolis (PGEP) were carried out on S. aureus, B. cereus, M. flavus, L. monocytogenes, P. aeruginosa, S. typhimurium, E. coli and E. cloacae bacterial strains and compared with broad-spectrum antibiotics, streptomycin and ampicillin. Anti-quorum sensing activity was performed on P. aeruginosa by testing the effect of representative propolis extracts on bio-film formation, twitching and motility activity and production of pyocyanin. We demonstrated that the majority of explored propolis extracts have greater or equal minimal inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration values compared to antibiotics, independently of the solvent used for the extraction. The samples collected from the highest altitude emerged as least active antimicrobial agents but with the greatest potential as anti-quorum sensing agents.

The variability of volatiles isolated from twigs by the static headspace (HS) method in seven natural populations of Picea omorika from Serbia was investigated for the first time. In the overall chemical profile, monoterpenes strongly dominated hydrocarbons as the most volatile compounds (95.7%). The dominant compounds were ?-pinene (29.5 %), ?-pinene (25.7%) and myrcene (13.0%), totaling 68.2% of the volatiles on average. The following nine volatiles were found to be present in medium-to-high amounts (0.5-10%): tricyclene, camphene, ?-phellandrene, ?-3-carene, p-cymene, ?-phellandrene, terpinolene, (E)-caryophyllene, and germacrene D. Out of the 78 volatiles detected, the six most abundant (?-pinene, ?-pinene, myrcene, ?-3-carene, ?-phellandrene and camphene) were selected for principle component analysis (PCA) and cluster analyses (CA). PCA revealed a high degree of similarity between populations, while CA showed a degree of separation of two populations from the others. The presented results are in agreement with previous phytochemical and molecular analyses of this species that confirm high variability in both specialized metabolites and genetic markers. [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 451-03-68/2020-14/200178, Grant no. 451-03-68/2020-14/200124, Grant no. 451-03-68/2020-14/20027, and Grant no. 451-03-68/2020-14/200168]