The purpose of this study is to identify the quantity and antibacterial activity of the individual phenolic compounds in Brazilian red propolis. Quantitative analysis of the 12 phenolic compounds in Brazilian red propolis was carried out using reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography. The main phenolic compounds in Brazilian red propolis were found to be (3S)-vestitol (1), (3S)-neovestitol (2) and (6aS,11aS)-medicarpin (4) with quantities of 72.9, 66.9 and 30.8 mg g of ethanol extracts(- 1), respectively. Moreover, the antibacterial activities of each compound against Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus subtilis and Pseudomonas aeruginosa were evaluated by measuring the minimum inhibitory concentrations. In particular, compound 4 exhibited the most potent antibacterial activity among all the assayed compounds against selected bacteria, indicating that 4 is the most active compound in Brazilian red propolis extracts. Thus, Brazilian red propolis may be used as food additives and pharmaceuticals to protect against bacteria.

Propolis is a resinous substance collected by honeybees from various plant sources and whose composition depends on the area of collection. This study examined the antioxidant activity of red propolis from Shandong, China. Ethanol extracts of propolis (EEP) were prepared and evaluated for their antioxidant activities using four assays: 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free radical-scavenging, 2,2′-azinobis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) radical cation decolorization, ferric ion reducing antioxidant and oxygen radical absorbance capacity assays. Red propolis from Shandong, China showed strong antioxidant activity across all assay systems used. Furthermore, the major constituents in EEP from Shandong, China were identified by HPLC analysis using photodiode array detection, and each component was quantitatively analyzed. In total, 17 compounds were identified: 9 flavonoids, 5 aromatic carboxylic acids and 3 phenolic acid esters. Red propolis from Shandong, China contains a large amount of the antioxidant compounds galangin and phenethyl caffeate (101.6 and 32.7 mg/g of EEP, respectively).Keywords: propolis, red, antioxidant, phenolics, Shandong, China *To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kumazawa@u-shizuoka-ken.ac.jp IntroductionPropolis is a resinous substance that honeybees forage from the buds and exudates of certain plants and is stored by the bees inside the beehive (Bankova et al., 2000;Marcucci, 1995). It has been used in folk medicine from ancient times in many countries and has been extensively studied in Eastern European countries (Bankova et al., 2000;Castaldo and Capasso, 2002). Recently, propolis was reported to possess important biological activities such as antibacterial (Kartal et al., 2003;Kujumgiev et al., 1999), antiviral (Amoros et al., 1994Kujumgiev et al., 1999), anti-inflammatory (Paulino et al., 2008Strehl et al., 1994), anticancer (Kumoto et al., 2001Matsuno, 1995), antifungal (Kujumgiev et al., 1999Murad et al., 2002), and antitumoral (Ikeno et al., 1991) properties. For this reason, propolis is extensively used in food and beverages to improve health and prevent diseases such as inflammation, diabetes, heart disease, and cancer (Banskota et al., 2001;Burdock, 1998).Propolis usually contains a variety of chemical compounds such as polyphenols (flavonoids, phenolic acids and their esters), terpenoids, steroids and amino acids. Propolis is composed of more than 150 compounds, which differ greatly depending on the geographical and botanical origin of propolis (Bonvehí and Coll, 1994; Nieva Moreno et al., 2000). Some of the observed biological activities might be attributable to identified chemical constituents, in particular its high content of polyphenols. The composition of propolis varies both qualitatively and quantitatively, depending on the vegetation in the area from which it was collected. Thus, propolis from Europe, South America and Asia has different chemical compositions (Bankova et al., 1992;Kumazawa et al., 2004a;Kumazawa et al., 2004b;Velikova et al...

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