Planta Med 2012; 78 - PJ70
DOI: 10.1055/s-0032-1321230

Mexican propolis research: HPLC determination of the major flavonoids

DA Martínez Chávez 1, GL Zarco-Espinoza 1, B Rivero-Cruz 1
  • 1Facultad de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México DF, Coyoacán 04510, México

Propolis is a natural resinous substance collected by bees from aerial parts of the plants, buds or exudates. The chemical composition of the plant source its related with the composition of bee glue. Combined with the knowledge of the active principles, it gives clues to standardization and quality control procedures, allowing the specification of propolis types that have different chemical composition. Therefore, a validated HPLC method for quantifying acacetin (1), 4,7-dimethyl naringenin (2), and 4′,7-dimethyl apigenin (3), main flavonoids present in the Mexican propolis, was developed. For each compound a linear response was evaluated within the range of 0.5–2.0mg/mL for 1, 0.25–1.25mg/mL for 2, and 0.05–0.5mg/mL for 3.