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Extraction and Antioxidant Activity of Bee Products
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Extraction and Antioxidant Activity of Bee Products

A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Natural Products Chemistry".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 November 2025 | Viewed by 1582

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Boryana S. Trusheva

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Organic Chemistry with Centre of Phytochemistry (IOCCP), Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia, Bulgaria
Interests: bee products; isolation and structure elucidation; chromatography; NMR; GC-MS; phytonutrients; biologically active compounds
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Bee products, including honey, propolis, royal jelly, bee pollen, and bee venom, are valued for their rich nutritional content and medicinal properties. Extracting bioactive compounds from these products typically involves methods like maceration and microwave- and ultrasonic-assisted extraction with different solvents to isolate beneficial components, such as phenolics, flavonoids, and others.

Most of these compounds are known for their strong antioxidant activity, which helps in neutralizing free radicals in the body, thereby reducing oxidative stress and preventing chronic diseases. The antioxidant potential varies depending on the bee product and its origin, with propolis and bee pollen generally showing the highest levels. Studying these properties supports bee products’ use in food, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals to promote health and longevity.

This Special Issue highlights the most recent discoveries, developments, and emerging trends in the field of bee products including, but not limited to, extraction, analysis, chemometrics, and the purification of antioxidant constituents and their biological activities. Submissions related to in vitro and in vivo studies of the pharmacological activities of chemically well characterized bee product extracts are also welcome.

Dr. Boryana S. Trusheva
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Molecules is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • bee products
  • extraction
  • chemical composition
  • isolation and identification
  • chromatographic analysis
  • analytical methods
  • antioxidants
  • biologically active compounds

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1055 KiB  
Article
Bee Pollen as a Dietary Mineral Source: In Vitro Bioaccessibility and Health Risk Evaluation
by Ceren Mutlu, Volkan Aylanc and Miguel Vilas-Boas
Molecules 2025, 30(13), 2745; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules30132745 - 26 Jun 2025
Viewed by 321
Abstract
Pollen, the male gametophyte of flowering plants, is collected by honeybees as a primary source of protein and converted into bee pollen through the enzymatic activity of digestive secretions. The nutrients in bee pollen are available in amounts well beyond those of proteins, [...] Read more.
Pollen, the male gametophyte of flowering plants, is collected by honeybees as a primary source of protein and converted into bee pollen through the enzymatic activity of digestive secretions. The nutrients in bee pollen are available in amounts well beyond those of proteins, comprising macronutrients such as carbohydrates, lipids and dietary fiber, as well as micronutrients such as minerals, vitamins, organic acids, and phenolic compounds. This study aimed to determine the macro and trace mineral content of bee pollen from different botanical and geographical origins, and to assess their bioaccessibility through simulated in vitro digestion, their dietary contribution, and potential health risks. Seven bee pollen samples were investigated, three with a monofloral origin of above 80%, from Nigella spp., Helianthus annuus and Castanea sativa, and four with a multifloral origin. Mineral composition revealed potassium as the most abundant element, while iron, manganese, and copper were found at trace levels. Castanea sativa pollen had the highest overall mineral content, whereas Nigella spp. showed the lowest values for calcium, magnesium, and copper. The bioaccessibility of bee pollen was highest during the gastric phase for most minerals except copper, where most of the samples peaked in the intestinal phase. Overall, mineral bioaccessibility after simulated digestion followed the order K > Mg > Cu > Ca > Mn > Fe > Zn. While for manganese, the consumption of bee pollen showed the highest contribution to recommended dietary intake (16% for women and 12% for men), calcium had the lowest, with less than 1% of the RDA at a consumption level of 40 g/day. Health risk assessment confirmed that consuming 40 g/day of bee pollen poses no risk because the target hazard quotient and hazard index are below the risk threshold of 1.0. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extraction and Antioxidant Activity of Bee Products)
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23 pages, 2493 KiB  
Article
Application of Liquid Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry-Based Untargeted Metabolomics to Reveal Metabolites Related to Antioxidant Activity in Buckwheat Honey
by Emilia Pogoda and Piotr Marek Kuś
Molecules 2025, 30(10), 2198; https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules30102198 - 17 May 2025
Viewed by 865
Abstract
Buckwheat honey is known for its high antioxidant activity, yet the compounds responsible for this effect have not been fully identified. This study used LC-MS-based untargeted metabolomics to investigate the metabolite profile of buckwheat honey and its relationship with antioxidant activity and total [...] Read more.
Buckwheat honey is known for its high antioxidant activity, yet the compounds responsible for this effect have not been fully identified. This study used LC-MS-based untargeted metabolomics to investigate the metabolite profile of buckwheat honey and its relationship with antioxidant activity and total phenolic content, assessed by DPPH, FRAP, and Folin–Ciocalteu assays. A key objective was also to optimize data preprocessing parameters to improve the accuracy and robustness of metabolomic analyses. Multivariate analyses (PCA, OPLS-DA) effectively differentiated honey samples with high and low antioxidant potential. A total of 43 features were associated with increased antioxidant activity and about 30 compounds, including organic acids, free amino acids, and Amadori compounds—early Maillard reaction products—were identified. The amounts of most of these compounds exhibited strong positive correlation (r > 0.8) with measured antioxidant potential. These findings suggest that, in addition to polyphenols, other compound classes such as melanoidin precursors known as transition metal chelators significantly contribute to the antioxidant properties of buckwheat honey. This approach provides valuable insight into the bioactive composition of honey and supports the identification of potential antioxidant markers. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Extraction and Antioxidant Activity of Bee Products)
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