Plant-based essential oils in the treatment of microbial infections

There is a growing demand for bioactive compounds from the great diversity of native plants, which have biological activities that are important for their application in the development of drugs and in the biomedical field. Among these bioactive compounds, essential oils have received great interest from researchers because they have numerous important biological properties for application in the pharmaceutical area, with an emphasis on antimicrobial activity. Due to the great biodiversity, the native Brazilian flora consists of thousands of species rich in these volatile compounds with self-added value. Therefore, this chapter will give an overview of the essential oils and their main compounds obtained from species of native Brazilian flora in terms of their antimicrobial activity, which can be useful in the future as new sources of bioactive compounds for developing innovative drugs in the treatment of microbial diseases.