Cardanols detected in non-polar propolis extracts from Scaptotrigona aff. postica (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini)

Giuseppina Negri,Ronaldo Zucatelli Mendonça,Roberto Manoel Do Nascimento,Caroline Cristina Fernandes Silva,Guilherme Rabelo Coelho

doi:10.1590/1981-6723.26518

Giuseppina Negri, Ronaldo Zucatelli Mendonça + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.1590/1981-6723.26518

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Abstract

Abstract The propolis produced by stingless bees of the tribe Meliponini is a viscous product that contains the resin collected from buds, leaves and plant exudates, mixed with salivary secretions, wax and soil. The species Scaptotrigona aff. postica (Latreille, 1807), (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponinae) popularly known as “tubi” in Maranhão State, Brazil, does not mix soil to produce its propolis. The propolis from S. postica harvested in Barra do Corda, Maranhão State, is popularly used in the treatment of wounds and respiratory illnesses. The hydroalcoholic extract of this propolis, rich in flavone-6,8-di-C-glycosides (vicenin-2 and schaftoside), pyrrolizidine alkaloids derived from retronecine, catechin and caffeoylquinic acid derivatives exhibited antiviral activity against the herpes simplex and rubella viruses. The aim of this study was to increase knowledge about the chemical composition of the S. postica propolis by analyzing non-polar extracts obtained using hexane and chloroform as the solvents, by GC-EI-MS. A total of 15 constituents were identified comparing their respective mass spectral data with those available in the NIST data bases and those reported in the literature. The main constituents detected were the phenolic lipids, known as cardanols, 3-(4,7-heptadecadienyl) phenol (5), 3-(10-heptadecenyl) phenol (7), 3-heptadecylphenol (9) and 3-pentadecyl phenol or hydrocardanol (13), which predominated in the hexane extract, while the predominant constituents in the chloroform extract were 3-pentadecyl phenol or hydrocardanol (13) and 3-(8-pentadecenyl) phenol (12). The antioxidant, antitumoral, antifeedant, cytotoxic, anticarcinogenic, antiproliferative, antimicrobial, antileishmanial and larvicidal activities of the cardanols have been demonstrated in many studies.

Highlights

Propolis is produced by the Africanized bee Apis mellifera (Huang et al, 2014) and by stingless bees of the tribe Meliponini (Batista et al, 2016) from resinous material collected from the buds, flowers and exudates of different plants, which is mixed with their mandibular secretions and wax
Stingless bees are less harmful to humans and domestic animals and are more resistant to the diseases and parasites than Apis mellifera (Sawaya et al, 2009; Araújo et al, 2015)
The samples of propolis from S. postica were collected from beehives located in the municipality of Barra do Corda, in the central region of Maranhão State, northeastern Brazil (5° 30’S, 45° 14’O), in November 2011

Summary

Introduction

Propolis is produced by the Africanized bee Apis mellifera (Huang et al, 2014) and by stingless bees of the tribe Meliponini (Batista et al, 2016) from resinous material collected from the buds, flowers and exudates of different plants, which is mixed with their mandibular secretions and wax. Stingless bees or meliponines play an important role in pollination and agriculture and are present in tropical and neotropical regions throughout the world (Batista et al, 2016; Pedro, 2014). In Brazil, 244 stingless bee species have been identified, mainly in the northern and northeastern regions, corresponding to about 20% of all neotropical species of stingless bees (Pedro, 2014)

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