SEASONAL-VARIATIONS OF THE CHEMICAL-COMPOSITION OF BRAZILIAN PROPOLIS

The seasonal variations in the chemical composition of Brazilian propo lis, collected by two bee subspecies, Africanized Apis mellifera and E uropean Apis mellifera ligustica, have been investigated by GC and CC- MS. The main components of the samples were phenolic compounds, especi ally cinnamic acid derivatives, the only exception being the autumn sa mple from Apis mellifera ligustica, where diterpenes predominated. In propolis from both subspecies, diterpenes appeared in summer and reach ed maximum percentage in autumn, but were absent during the other seas ons. The results obtained indicated that both bee subspecies collect p ropolis from among the same group of plants, and that there are at lea st two important plant sources, but these remain unidentified. (C) Inr a/DIB/AGIB/Elsevier, Paris.