New environmentally-friendly wood protection systems based on “green” technologies are needed to inhibit wood-inhabiting mold and decay fungi. Utilizing bioactive essential oils from select herbaceous plants is one promising approach, but the concentrations of bioactive compounds are somewhat variable even in the highest (therapeutic) grade essential oils. Purified primary metabolites from four bioactive plant essential oils were evaluated for antifungal activity in southern pine treated with those compounds. Purified carvone, citronellol, geraniol, thymol and borneol inhibited growth of Aspergillus niger, Penicillium chrysogenum and Trichoderma viride for 12 weeks at concentrations equal to or less than those present in therapeutic grade essential oils. Thymol and borneol effectively inhibited two brown-rot fungi, Postia placenta and Gloeophyllum trabeum and one white-rot fungus, Trametes versicolor, but other metabolites tested were ineffective against the decay fungi. Select purified bioactive metabolites of essential oils effectively inhibit fungi that inhabit wood and wood products.

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