## 3 Results and Discussion
### Antifungal and Antibacterial Assays  
Figure 7 shows the results of the antifungal and antibacterial activity assays of the EOs extracted from _S. montana_ and _T. capitatus_ in both pure EO and tablet forms. Data obtained using disk diffusion assays on two Candida reference strains and one _S. aureus_ reference strain showed that both EOs and the tablets had antifungal and antibacterial activities that were significantly higher (2-3-fold) than the reference drugs used as positive controls (clotrimazole and vancomycin, respectively). The b-CD host exerted no biological activity against the tested microorganisms (data not shown). The tablet formulation induced a significant decrease in antifungal and antibacterial efficacy compared to the corresponding pure EO. However, the tablet was more effective than the reference antifungal and/or antibiotic drugs. The difference in effectiveness between the tablets and pure EOs was more evident for yeasts than for _S. aureus_, thus showing a different response to the tablet dissolv  
Figure 4: GC-MS chromatograms of _S. montana_ EO (red line) and solid-state b-CD-EO-S (black line) samples. Figure 5: GC-MS chromatograms of _T. capitatus_ EO (red line) and _T. capitatus_ solid-state b-CD–EO-T (black line) samples. ing time. Moreover, these different effects may have been due to the different effectiveness of the active components of the oil that are found inside the b-CD-EO and therefore inside the tablet. These components could have a different cellular target and hence display lower performance against yeasts than in the tested strain. It must be emphasized that the results obtained regarding growth inhibition of the tested microorganisms by pure EOs is consistent with our previous works [16; 17; 18; 19]. Figure 8 shows the dissolving sequence of the tablets. Once in contact with the medium contained in the Petri dish, the tablet began to solve, and about 1 h later, it was almost completely dissolved. After 24 h, at the end of the incubation time, it was completely dissolved. The prolonged dissolving time of the tablet could be a limit in the interpretation of the in vitro test. However, from an applicative point of view, a long dissolving time means an increased exposure time of the patient to the bioactive substance and therefore \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Molecules** & **CAS Number** & **T\({}_{\text{fit}}\)** & _S. Montana EO_ & **_S. Montana EO +_** & **Effects** \\  & & & & & **b-CD** & \\ \hline Carvacrol & 499-75-2 & 12.43 & X & X & Antibacterial \\
1-Hydroxy-4-methyl-2,6-di-tert-butyl (BHT) & 128-37-0 & 16.1 & X & X & Antioxidant \\ Caryophyllene oxide & 1139-30-6 & 18.27 & X & X & Relaxant effects, analgesic, tumor-suppressing agent \\ Decalin, 1-methoxy & 4645-15-2 & 24.66 & X & X & EOs constituent \\ Henceiscane & 629-94-7 & 30.36 & X & X & EOs constituent \\
1-Octadecanol & 112-92-5 & 30.5 & X & X & EOs constituent \\ Tricosane & 638-67-5 & 33.06 & X & X & EOs constituent \\
9-Octadecenamide (oleamide) & 301-02-0 & 39.73 & X & X & EOs constituent \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: Molecules found in both the _S. Montana_ EO and the relative tablet that show a biological function or are typical of this EO.