Essential oil from Piperaceae as a potential for biopesticide agents: a review

Abstract

This review is aimed to present information on the properties of Piperaceae which can be potentially used as a biopesticide. The chemical compounds involved in were different as each species consist of different amount of secondary metabolites which then leads to different properties. In recent years, several reports have been published regarding the composition and the biological activities of the essential oils of Piper species. These studies have highlighted the existence of marked chemical differences among oils extracted from different species or varieties. Analysis of volatile constituents from Piperaceae species has revealed the presence of monoterpenes, sesquiterpenes and arylpropanoids that have shown interesting biological properties including cytotoxic, fungistatic, insecticide, molluscicidal, antioxidant and antimicrobial activities. Essential oils are natural complex secondary metabolites characterized by strong odour, volatility and have generally lower density than water. Due to their volatility, essential oils are environmentally non-persistent. On top of that, essential oils are ‘generally recognized as safe’ by the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Since technology has become more advanced, people started to replace synthetic pesticide with bio-pesticide. The demand for EO has increased as it has biological properties that can be used to replace synthetic pesticide