Chemical markers of Chilean monofloral honey bee identified by capillary electrophoresis (CE)

Chile produces several kinds of honey owing to the presence of a great endemic native flora. These bee products have important biological properties inherited from specific floral sources. In the last years, the detection of certain chemical compounds has allowed to certify the origin of honey and other beehive products. Among those chemicals is the family of phenolic compounds. These molecules are involved in honey natural capabilities and are useful as bio markers. Ethanolic extracts of unifloral honey and nectar of Quillaja saponaria and honey sac from bees were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis (CE), in order to identify any phenolic compound with potential use as chemical marker. The analyses showed that ferulic and p-coumaric acids may be used as markers due to their presence in all the extracts studied by CE. A third compound identified as caffeic acid, was detected only in two analyzed extracts (honey and honey sac bee). This result suggests that bee by itself is capable to modify the initial content of nectar and therefore the final composition of phenols in honey. In this work, the phenolic profiles obtained for each extract were discussed for establishing a “fingerprint” of those compounds in these beehive products.

Acknowledgments: FONDEF D0811080 and FONDECYT 1110808 Grants to Professor Gloria Montenegro and FONDECYT POSTDOCTORAL GRANT 3110070 to Enrique Mejías.