Abstract
The present study reveals the utility of high-performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) fingerprinting of phenolic constituents for the authentication of monofloral honeys. The obtained data enables a more complete assessment of honey quality and the identification of emerging threats to honey quality. The developed procedure facilitates differentiation of varietal honeys and detection of honey adulterations. We used an HPTLC fingerprint analysis to determine the characteristic patterns of different honey types (willow, buckwheat, heather, pine honeydew, and manuka honey). The HPTLC chromatograms were used to determine the differences in the botanical origin of the honey samples on the basis of the band profiles, which are characteristic for each honey type. Identification of 11 polyphenols was performed by comparison of the color and Rf of the bands with available standards. Additionally, the results were confirmed by an HPLC analysis.
Highlights
Phenolic compounds rank among the most important compounds present in honey
The high-performance thin-layer chromatographic (HPTLC) fingerprint analysis allowed the identification of the type of the following samples of honey: willow, buckwheat, heather, pine honeydew, and manuka
This showed that on the basis of the similarities and differences in the observed bands, it was possible to determine the botanical origin of certain honey
Summary
Phenolic compounds rank among the most important compounds present in honey. They exhibit many biological effects, including their actions as antioxidant, antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, and anti-allergic agents. Different methods have been implemented for the authentication of honey (Karabagias et al 2014, Dinca et al 2015, Ciulu et al 2016, Pascual-Maté et al 2017), and the analysis of phenolic compounds is well documented as a very promising method for determining the floral and geographical origins of honey. An analytical procedure for the determination of phenolic compounds includes three steps: isolation, separation and identification, and the most common method of separation is high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or capillary electrophoresis (CE) (Pyrzyńska and Biesaga 2009).
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