Part 1: The Basics of Essential Oil Chemistry
CHAPTER 2: ESSENTIAL OIL ORGANIC
CHEMISTRY
2.1 OILS USAGE IS LINKED TO OIL CHEMISTRY
Again, everything is chemistry. Chemical structure influences how
substances are absorbed and metabolized, how they smell, and what
their biological activities are. By understanding the fundamentals
of oil chemistry, you can learn to categorize oils by their chemical
properties. This will help you understand how to use them effectively
and how to share them with others.
Perhaps you want to enjoy the skin-supporting properties of
Geranium, but you don’t particularly like its aroma. Maybe you just
used your last few drops of Frankincense and you need to find
something else for your daily support of healthy cellular function.*
Or maybe you are crafting your own blend to meet a specific
set of health needs or to create a specific aroma. If you have the
information about essential oils’ chemical composition and you
know how to use it, you can skillfully do any of these tasks. In fact,
the more you understand chemistry, the more effectively you will be
able to use essential oils in general. In this section, we will describe
two common ways of categorizing essential oils based on chemistry:
carbon backbone and functional groups.
2.2 THE CARBON BACKBONE
Organic chemistry is the study of organic molecules. In chemistry, the
word “organic” means “carbon-based.” So organic chemistry literally
means “the study of carbon-based molecules.” Understanding the
basics of organic chemistry is essential for understanding essential
oils because every aromatic molecule is made of carbon atoms joined
together by chemical bonds. The portion of a molecule comprised of
a chain of carbon atoms is known as the carbon backbone.
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