Research progress and modern application analysis of chemical constituents and pharmacological effects of volatile oils in acrid Chinese medicines

Introduction: This review aims to provide a systematic summary of the chemical constituents, pharmacological effects, traditional use, clinical applications and quality control of acrid Chinese medicines to provide a reference for in-depth research and product development of acrid Chinese medicinal volatile oils. Methods: In this study, the database of CNKI, Web of Science and PubMed were used to search for information on acrid Chinese medicines using the name (Latin name) and 'volatile oil'. Results: This review summarises and analyzes the chemical composition and pharmacological effect of 126 kinds of eight types of acrid Chinese medicines. The results show that the main components of the volatile oils used in acrid Chinese medicines are terpenoids and terpenes, followed by alcohols and esters. These components have been used in medicine because of their pharmacological activities. Conclusions: Volatile oils have a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities. However, due to the complex composition and unstable quality of volatile oils, the wider application of volatile oils is limited; the current quality specifications at all levels lack research on the composition limits and standards of volatile oils. Therefore, establishing corresponding quality control standards should be the key research direction for volatile oils in the future.