How are essential oils affected by an alkaline medium?

peppertea

Hello! I've been searching this on the internet but found no relevant results, so maybe one of you can help me.

How are essential oils and their properties affected by the very alkaline medium during soap-making? I suppose some of their components are lost, some remain, but in what proportion? And is the alkaline medium worse or better for keeping their properties then high temperatures (let's say 80 degrees Celsius)?

(wondering how much is lost when making cold process soap, versus making hot-process- speeding up saponification- and only after the mixture is completly saponified and the pH level is down again adding the essential oils)

Thank you, and I'd appreciate any help, since this is troubling me for a while now!

Happy holidays!