title: Organic extractives from Mentha spp. honey and the bee-stomach: methyl syringate, vomifoliol, terpenediol I, hotrienol and other compounds.
abstract: The GC and GC/MS analyses of the solvent organic extractive from the stomach of the bees, having collected Mentha spp. nectar, revealed the presence of methyl syringate (6.6%), terpendiol I (5.0%) and vomifoliol (3.0%) that can be attributed to the plant origin. Other major compounds from the bee-stomach were related to the composition of cuticular waxes and less to pheromones. Organic extractives from Mentha spp. honey were obtained by solvent-free headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and ultrasonic solvent extraction (USE) and analyzed by GC and GC/MS. The major honey headspace compounds were hotrienol (31.1%-38.5%), 2-methoxy-4-methylphenol (0.5-6.0%), cis- and trans-linalool oxides (0.9-2.8%), linalool (1.0-3.1%) and neroloxide (0.9-1.9%). Methyl syringate was the most abundant compound (38.3-56.2%) in the honey solvent extractives followed by vomifoliol (7.0-26.6%). Comparison of the honey organic extractives with the corresponding bee-stomach extractive indicated that methyl syringate and vomofoliol were transferred to the honey while terpendiol I was partially transformed to hotrienol in ripened honey.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Chemistry and Technology, University of Split, N. Tesle 10/V, Split, Croatia. igor@ktf-split.hr
authors.forename: Igor
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Jerković
authors.forename: Gordana
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hegić
authors.forename: Zvonimir
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Marijanović
authors.forename: Dragan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bubalo
mesh_terms: D000475:Alkenes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000737:chemistry*; D000440:Butanols / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D003512:Cyclohexanones / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005707:Gallic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D008401:Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry; D006722:Honey / Q000032:analysis*; D027541:Mentha / Q000737:chemistry*; D052617:Solid Phase Microextraction; D013270:Stomach / Q000737:chemistry; D013729:Terpenes / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014465:Ultrasonics
chemical_list: D000475:Alkenes; D000440:Butanols; D003512:Cyclohexanones; D013729:Terpenes; C506133:methyl syringate; D005707:Gallic Acid; C525026:vomifoliol; C476493:3,7-dimethyl-1,5(E),7-octatrien-3-ol