Phenolic acids in Australian Melaleuca, Guioa, Lophostemon, Banksia and Helianthus honeys and their potential for floral authentication

Abstract

Eight phenolic acids and two abscisic acid isomers in Australian honeys from five botanical species (Melaleuca, Guioa, Lophostemon, Banksia and Helianthus) have been analyzed in relation to their botanical origins. Total phenolic acids present in these honeys range from 2.13 mg/100 g sunflower (Helianthus annuus) honey to 12.11 mg/100 g tea tree (Melaleuca quinquenervia) honey, with amounts of individual acids being various. Tea tree honey shows a phenolic profile of gallic, ellagic, chlorogenic and coumaric acids, which is similar to the phenolic profile of an Australian Eucalyptus honey (bloodwood or Eucalyptus intermedia honey). The main difference between tea tree and bloodwood honeys is the contribution of chlorogenic acid to their total phenolic profiles. In Australian crow ash (Guioa semiglauca) honey, a characteristic phenolic profile mainly consisting of gallic acid and abscisic acid could be used as the floral marker. In brush box (Lophostemon conferta) honey, the phenolic profile, comprising mainly gallic acid and ellagic acid, could be used to differentiate this honey not only from the other Australian non-Eucalyptus honeys but also from a Eucalyptus honey (yellow box or Eucalyptus melliodora honey). However, this Eucalyptus honey could not be differentiated from brush box honey based only on their flavonoid profiles. Similarly, the phenolic profile of heath (Banksia ericifolia) honey, comprising mainly gallic acid, an unknown phenolic acid (Ph1) and coumaric acid, could also be used to differentiate this honey from tea tree and bloodwood honeys, which have similar flavonoid profiles. Coumaric acid is a principal phenolic acid in Australian sunflower honey and it could thus be used together with gallic acid for the authentication. These results show that the HPLC analysis of phenolic acids and abscisic acids in Australian floral honeys could assist the differentiation and authentication of the honeys.

Confirmation of phenolic acids and flavonoids in honeys by UPLC-MS

“…In addition to benzoic, phenylacetic and β-phenyllactic acid (Speer and Montag, 1984;Steeg and Montag, 1988b;Dimitrova et al, 2007) ellagic acid and abscisic acid were also described as indicators for heather honey (Soler et al, 1995;Ferreres et al, 1996). Both of the phenolic acids, gallic and abscisic acid, were proposed as marker substances in eucalyptus honey (Yao et al, 2003(Yao et al, , 2004b(Yao et al, , 2005. In the group of flavonoids the flavanone hesperetin was identified by HPLC with diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) as a marker for citrus honey , and kaempferol was analysed for rosemary honey .…”

Using flavonoids, phenolic compounds and headspace volatile profile for botanical authentication of lemon and orange honeys

“…The antioxidant capacity of honey depends on the floral source used by the bees to collect the nectar as well as seasonal and environmental factors (Al-Mamary, Al-Meeri, & Al-Habori, 2002;Frankel et al, 1998;Gheldof, Xiao-Hong, & Engeseth, 2002;Yao et al, 2003). In addition to this, the identification of these compounds, due to their bioactive character, would give the honey an added value as a functional food due to the known beneficial properties (Yao, Jiang, Singanusong, Datta, & Raymont, 2005;Iurlina et al, 2009).…”

New features on the fragmentation and differentiation of C‐glycosidic flavone isomers by positive electrospray ionization and triple quadrupole mass spectrometry

“…1 Apart from their beneficial properties in food which has conferred on them a relevant role as nutraceuticals, 2 polyphenols are chemotaxonomic markers due to their specificity and ubiquity, and they have proven to be chemical markers for food authentication. [3][4][5] Flavonoids exhibit a huge variety of structures in nature, being usually present as O-and/or C-glycosides. An interesting group is composed of C-glycosides, which are common in flowering plants and can be found at appreciable concentration levels in certain species of several families (i.e.…”