Chemical characterization of propolis samples collected from different Provinces of Anatolia

Abstract

Propolis is a viscous sticky resin-like substance that honey bees' process and store in their hives. Honey bees collect the resins from different parts of the certain plants. This resinous substance is harvested by beekeepers with different techniques and is supplied to the industry as raw propolis. In order to produce propolis products in a standardized way, it is necessary to establish the quality parameters of regional propolis such as balsam, total phenolic amount and chemical composition. In this study, propolis samples were obtained from some cities around Marmara region. Propolis extracts prepared with 70% ethanol were analyzed. The amount of balsam described as the ethanol soluble fraction was determined gravimetrically. The amount of total phenolic substance was determined according to the folin-ciocalteu method. The chemical composition of the extracts was elucidated by using the Gas Chromatography-Mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method. The balsam ratios of the analyzed samples were found to vary between 35% and 72%. It was determined that the amount of total phenolic substances was between 28 and 80 mg of gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/mL. From the content analysis using with GC-MS, it was found that propolis extracts contained the volatiles, phenolic acids/flavonoids, terpenic compounds, free fatty acids or esters and organic acids. Although the chemical composition of the samples appears to be of high similarity to the poplar type, it consists of different plant sources as well. © 2020 Bursa Uludag University. All rights reserved.