Abstract.
Chemometrics has been shown quite efficient to uncover relationships between chemical composition of a sample and its
geographical origin. Forty propolis samples originated from the the South and South East of Brazil were analyzed by HPLC and 18
compounds of interest were studied which included: caffeic, p-coumaric and ferulic acids, and some of their derivatives,
pinobanksin, a derivative of kaempferol and five phenolic compounds (assigned as 3-prenyl-4-hydroxycinnamic acid (PHCA);
2,2-dimethyl-6-carboxyethnyl-2H-1-benzopyran (DCBE); 3,5-diprenyl-4-hydroxycinnamic acid (DHCA); compound E (still
unknown) and 6-propenoic-2,2-dimethyl-8-prenyl-2H-1-benzopyran acid (DPB). Principal Component Analysis (PCA) indicated
three different groups of propolis samples, having the same typical chromatogram evaluated by HPLC. Samples from the South East
group were rich in derivatives of kaempferol. Samples from the South group I had a high content of DPB compound, but a low
concentration of kaempferol derivatives and of DCBEN compound. Samples from the South group II were characterized by a high
concentration of DCBEN, DHCA, p-coumaric and DPB compounds. Therefore, the identification of new compounds in Brazilian
propolis can give useful information about the plant sources of a given geographic region.
 

Keywords.
Propolis; High Performance Liquid Chromatography; Phenolic Compounds; Chemometrics; Principal Components.

Keywords Plus.
Chromatography Mass Spectrometry; Gas Chromatography; Chemical Composition; Identification; Origin.