Propolis is a resinous substance collected by honeybees from leaf buds and cracks in the bark of various plants, the pharmacologically active components in the propolis are flavonoids and phenolic acids and their esters. A simultaneous determination of flavonoids and phenolic acids from propolis and its medicinal preparations by capillary electrophoresis with electrochemical detection (CE-ED) was reported. Under the optimum conditions, the analytes could be separated in a 100 mmol/l borate buffer (pH=8.7) within 25 min. The response was linear over three orders of magnitude with detection limit (S/N=3) ranging from 1×10-7 g/ml to 5×10-7 g/ml for the analytes. This method has been used for the determination of flavonoids and phenolic acids from propolis and its medicinal preparations, and the assay result was satisfactory.
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