Journal of Herbal Medicine 48 (2024) 100951 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Herbal Medicine journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/hermed Review Article Physical-Chemical Characterisation and Biological Activities of the Essential Oil of Lippia alba (Mill) NE Br Ex Britton Obtained in Ecuador C. Tubay-Bermùdez a , C.A. Neves b , A.A. Dueñas-Rivadeneira c , A.M. Peña d , L.A.Z. Mendoza e , K.R. Escobar f , D.M. Rivas-Navia g , N.R. Maddela h, ⁎ a Facultad de Ciencias de la Vida y Tecnologicas, Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí, Manta, Manabí, Ecuador b MARE/ARNET, ESTM, Polytechnic of Leiria, Edifício Cetemares, Peniche 2520-641, Portugal c Departamento de Procesos Agroindustriales, Facultad de Agrociencias, Universidad Técnica de Manabí, Chone, Manabí, Ecuador d Facultad de Agronomía, Universidad Técnica de Manabí, Portoviejo, Manabí, Ecuador e Carrera de Agroindustria, Escuela Superior Politécnica Agropecuaria de Manabí Manuel Félix López, Calceta, Manabí, Ecuador f Facultad de Ciencias Aplicadas a la Industria, Universidad Nacional del Cuyo, San Rafael, M5600APG, Argentina g Departamento de Ingeniería Química, Universidad Rovira i Virgili, Tarragona 43007, Spain h Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Facultad la Ciencias de la Salud, Universidad Técnica de Manabí, Portoviejo, Manabí, Ecuador ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Antioxidant Antimicrobial Extraction Hydrodistillation Polyphenols ABSTRACT Introduction: Lippia alba is a wild semishrubby species that grows in countries like Ecuador, its extracts have significant bioactive compounds. However, the antioxidant and antimicrobial properties of L alba essential oil (EO) have not been given importance in this region. The present study aimed to evaluate the physicochemical characteristics of the extracts and biological activities of L alba EO. Methods: A unifactorial design was used, and physicochemical variables (pH, density, and refractive index) and antioxidant and antimicrobial capacities were explored using standard methods. Fractions of L alba EO were analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy. Results: The density, pH, refractive index, and phenolic content of L alba EO were found to be 0.95 g/ml, 5.5, 1.51, and 918 mg/l, respectively. An antioxidant activity of 23.08 mg/l was observed by the 2,2′-azino-bis-(3- ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic) method, while 14.81 mg/l was observed by the ferric reducing antioxidant power method. Essential oil of L alba has presented a greater antimicrobial activity against different Gram- negative than Gram-positive bacteria. Essential oil of L alba showed an inhibitory zone of 56.7 and 9.7 mm against Photobacterium damselae sub sp. piscicida DSM 22834 and Bacillus subtilis ATCC 6633, respectively. Conclusions: The results of the present investigation clearly indicated that the EO of L alba has potential anti- oxidant and antimicrobial activities in vitro analysis, which are important indications that this extract can be applied in different industries, such as pharmaceutical industry, food industry, and others. Introduction Medicinal aromatic plants (MAPs) have represented a source of molecules with bioactive capacity due to their nutritional and medic- inal value (Ibourki et al., 2022; Tripathi and Singh., 2021). Extracts of medicinal plants are considered an important resource for human beings, and thus the extracts are widely used in different industries such as pharmaceutical, agricultural, and food industries (Fierascu et al., 2021; Kashyap and Gupta, 2023; Licata et al., 2022). In developed countries, between 70% and 95% of people depend on MAP (Máthé and de Sales Silva, 2018), while in Latin America, the resources allocated to research are limited, which means that MAPs are under- valued (Albuquerque, 2018). Lippia alba Mill Br is an aromatic subshrub of the Verbenaceae family widely distributed throughout Latin America, capable of adapting to different environments, making it easy to propagate (Joshi et al., 2018) (Fig. 1). It can reach a height of up to 2 m; it has woody stems and arched branches, and its leaves are opposite with thin dark green pe- tiole and flowers with lilac petals (Camêlo et al., 2011). L alba extracts have potential biological activities such as antimicrobial, antioxidant, and anticarcinogenic activities (Blowman et al., 2018; Vencioneck- Dutra et al., 2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hermed.2024.100951 Received 22 June 2024; Received in revised form 10 September 2024; Accepted 29 September 2024 Available online 5 October 2024 2210-8033/© 2024 Elsevier GmbH. All rights are reserved, including those for text and data mining, AI training, and similar technologies. ]] ]] ]]]]]] ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: raju.maddela@utm.edu.ec (N.R. Maddela).