Propolis has been used since ancient times in folk medicine [1]. It is a popular medicine
possessing a broad spectrum of biological activities such as antibacterial, antiviral,
antifungal, antioxidant and anticancer agent [2,3]. This material is one of the richest
sources of polyphenolics [4]. Due to pharmacological properties it is used in the
commercial production of dietary supplements. In this study, we developed and validated
a new GC-MS method for quantifying flavonoids: chrysin, galangin, pinocembrin and
phenolic acids: caffeic, p-coumaric as well as ferulic. Quantitative analysis of phenolic compounds was performed
on HP-5MS a capillary column (30 m x 0.25 mm i.d., 0.25 µm). The column temperature
was initially held at 50 °C for 10 min, and then the temperature was raised to 310 °C at rate of 2 °C/min, followed by an isothermal period of 10 min. The mass spectrometer was operated
in electron impact ionization/selective ion monitoring (EI/SIM) mode. A sensitive,
rapid and accurate GC-MS method was applied to analyse the different sorts of commercially
available propolis extract as well as to the samples of raw propolis extracts obtained
from beekeepers. Total flavonoids ranged from 15.60 to 72.51 mg/g and total phenolic
acid from 6.28 to 133.60 mg/g. In one sample, chrysin was found at 90.33 mg/g contents.
The most abundant p-coumaric acid was detected with highest level 42.07 mg/g. The method was found to
be relatively simple, specific, precise and accurate and may be used for the quality
control of simultaneous determination of polyphenolics in propolis extracts but also
in other similar plant materials. This method also represents a reliable and useful
tool for comprehensive multi-component analysis of polyphenols in propolis extracts
used in apitherapy.
Acknowledgements: The study was conducted with the use of equipment purchased by Medical
University of Bialystok as part of the OP DEP 2007 – 2013, Priority Axis I.3, contract
No. POPW.01.03.00 – 20 – 008/09 and financially supported by the Medical University
of Bialystok, Poland (KNOW Project No.124/KNOW/15).
Keywords: Propolis, polyphenols, GC-MS.
References:
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