1: J Agric Food Chem. 2007 Jul 25;55(15):6082-6. Epub 2007 Jun 30. Effect of gamma and e-beam radiation on the essential oils of Thymus vulgaris thymoliferum, Eucalyptus radiata, and Lavandula angustifolia. Haddad M, Herent MF, Tilquin B, Quetin-Leclercq J. Laboratoire de Pharmacognosie, Unité d'Analyse Chimique et Physico-Chimique des Médicaments, Université Catholique de Louvain, UCL 72.30-CHAM, Avenue Emmanuel Mounier 72, 1200 Bruxelles, Belgium. mohamed.haddad@cham.ucl.ac.be The microbiological contamination of raw plant materials is common and may be adequately reduced by radiation processing. This study evaluated the effects of gamma- and e-beam ionizing radiations (25 kGy) on three plants used as food or as medicinal products (Thymus vulgaris L., Eucalyptus radiata D.C., and Lavandula angustifolia Mill.) as well as their effects on extracted or commercial essential oils and pure standard samples. Comparison between irradiated and nonirradiated samples was performed by GC/FID and GC/MS. At the studied doses, gamma and e-beam ionizing radiation did not induce any detectable qualitative or quantitative significant changes in the contents and yields of essential oils immediately after ionizing radiation of plants or commercial essential oils and standards. As the maximum dose tested (25 kGy) is a sterilizing dose (much higher than doses used for decontamination of vegetable drugs), it is likely that even decontamination with lower doses will not modify yields or composition of essential oils of these three plants. PMID: 17602644 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] Related Links Essential oils from micropropagated plants of Lavandula viridis. [Phytochem Anal. 2002] PMID:11899605 Composition and antifungal activity of essential oils of Mentha piperita and Lavendula angustifolia on post-harvest phytopathogens. [Commun Agric Appl Biol Sci. 2006] PMID:17390896 The relationship between the chemical composition of three essential oils and their insecticidal activity against Acanthoscelides obtectus (Say). [Pest Manag Sci. 2004] PMID:15154521 Enantiomeric composition studies in Lavandula species using supercritical fluids. [J Sep Sci. 2005] PMID:16342799 [Quality evaluation of essential oils] [Yakugaku Zasshi. 2002] PMID:11905050