Schinus molle L. (aguaribay, aroeira-falsa, “molle”, family Anacardiaceae), a native of South America, produces an active antibacterial essential oil extracted from the leaves and fruits. This work reports a complete study of its chemical composition and determines the antibacterial activity of Schinus molle L. essential oil and its main components. The results showed that the crude extract essential oil has a potent antibacterial effect on Staphylococcus aureus ATCC 25923, a strong/moderate effect on Escherichia coli ATCC 25922 and moderate/weak one on Pseudomonas aeruginosa ATCC 27853.

Solvent-free microwave extraction (SFME) is a combination of microwave heating and dry distillation performed at atmospheric pressure without the addition of water or organic solvents that has been proposed as a green method for the extraction of essential oils from aromatic and medicinal herbs. In this work, SFME and the conventional techniques of steam distillation (SD) and hydrodistillation (HD) were compared with respect to the extraction and antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of Thymus mastichina essential oil. The main constituent of essential oils obtained using different methods was 1,8-cineole (eucalyptol). The results showed that the essential oils extracted by means of SFME in 30 min were quantitatively (yield) and qualitatively (aromatic profile) similar to those obtained using conventional HD over 120 min. In addition, SFME generates less waste and less solvent, consumes less energy, and provides a higher yield for a shorter extraction time, which is advantageous for the extraction of the T. mastichina essential oil compared to SD. The antioxidant and antimicrobial activities of the T. mastichina essential oil obtained from either SFME or conventional extraction methods (SD or HD) showed a similar pattern. Large-scale experiments using this SFME procedure showed a potential industrial application.