## 1 Introduction  
Nowadays, the incidence of fungal infections both community-acquired and nosocomial has significantly raised, especially in patients from high-risk groups (with impaired immunity, patients with HIV/AIDS, organ transplant recipients, cancer patients receiving chemotherapy, individuals undergoing broad-spectrum antibiotic and corticosteroid therapy, or immunosuppression). Among different species of fungi, yeasts belonging to _Candida_ are opportunistic microorganisms that colonize healthy individuals [1, 2, 3, 4]. They are also the most widespread pathogens responsible for the majority of fungal infections causing diverse clinical diseases, ranging from superficial and mucosal candidiasis to invasive diseases associated with candidemia, metastatic organs, and potentially life-threatening systemic illness. _Candida_ is considered as the main cause of nosocomial fungal infections (almost 80%) [4, 5, 6]. These fungi are a significant health problem not only for immunocompromised patients, but also for healthy people [4, 6]. Over 20 _Candida_ species can cause infections [7], but _C. albicans_ is responsible for the most number of cases of candidiasis and is associated with high mortality (up to 35-50%). The number of infections caused by other _Candida_ spp., such as _C. glabata_, _C. tropicalis_, or _C. krusei_ is also increasing [4, 5, 7, 8]. The treatment of fungal infections is still difficult and insufficient. Only a few groups of drugs are used in the therapy of candidiasis, namely polyenes, echinocandins, triazole derivatives, allylamines, and flucytosine [3; 4; 5; 6; 8]. Moreover, none of them meet all the expectations. Additionally, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) considered that the growing resistance of _Candida_ to antifungals is an increasing public health problem worldwide [7]. It is worth noting that emerging pathogenic yeasts may be resistant to many classes of available antimyctics (e.g., _C. auris_--multidrug-resistant microorganism described in 2009, and already reported from thirty-six countries on six continents, exhibiting variable susceptibility to azoles, echinocandins, and amphoteric B) [8; 9; 10; 11]. Recently, plant-derived compounds with multidirectional biological properties have been widely identified and investigated [12]. The secondary plant metabolites may be important sources of new antifungal drugs with anti-_Candida_ activity or constituents suitable for further modification [12; 13]. According to [PERSON] et al. [13], a total of 111 articles were reported (between 1966 and 2015) in which 142 anti-_C. albicans_ phytochemicals were distinguished. Among them, 71 (50%) compounds were active (with MIC values below 8 mg/mL) and 60 (42.25%) is noteworthy (MICs below 1 mg/mL). Moreover, 24 (16.9%) of these natural products can be classified as fungicidal. Additionally, the antifungal activity of 16 (11.27%) substances was confirmed also in gold standard in vivo experiments. In another review, [PERSON] et al. [14] summarized the anti-_Candida_ activity of phytochemicals published after 2010 (in 2010-2017), especially those with MICs \(\leq\) 32 \(\upmu\)g/mL. According to them, multicenter studies showed that certain phytocompounds, such as phenylpropanoids, flavonoids, alkaloids, and terpenoids possess promising antifungal properties toward _Candida_ spp. Some of them indicated antifungal effect, with MICs of \(\leq\)8 \(\upmu\)g/mL, and a higher activity against drug-resistant _Candida_ spp. than fluconazole or itraconazole [14]. Other authors exhibited that the combinations of fluconazole with different natural compounds or extracts were effective even toward fluconazole-resistant C. _albicans_ strains [15]. Phenylpropanoids (i.e., phenylpropanoic acids, coumarins, and lignans) have been studied for anticandidal activities. Some of them (anisylalcohol, salicdehyde, chlorogenic, caffeic, and quintic acids from phenylpropanoic acids or scopoletein belonging to coumarins) showed activity against _Candida_ spp. at MICs of 8-31 \(\upmu\)g/mL.