Volume 20, Issue 2 e202200922
Research Article

Chemical Composition and Antimicrobial Effect of Western Ethiopian Propolis

Tariku Neme Afata

Corresponding Author

Tariku Neme Afata

Department of Environmental Health Science and Technology, Jimma University, Ethiopia

Oromia Region, Dambi Dollo Teachers College, Ethiopia

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Aman Dekebo

Aman Dekebo

Department of Applied Chemistry, Adama Science and Technology University, Adama, Ethiopia

Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Adama Science and Technology University, Adama, Ethiopia

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First published: 28 December 2022

Abstract

Propolis or bee glue is commonly named as a natural resinous mixture produced by honeybees (Apis mellifera) from substances collected from parts of plants, buds, and exudate. The result of the ethyl acetate - methanol (3 : 2) volume by volume fraction yielded a total of two compounds namely betulinic acid and β-amyrin isolated from Bodji Dirmaji and Fincha'a district propolis, respectively. The crude ethanolic extract was portioned with the different solvent systems by increasing the polarities in the following order of hexane, ethyl acetate, and methanol. Column chromatographic method on normal silica gel was used to isolate the compounds. The structures of the compounds were characterized using 1D NMR techniques. The study revealed that western Ethiopian propolis was rich in saponins, tannins, flavonoids, steroids, triterpenes, and glycosides. The antibacterial activity for the isolated compound (betulinic acid) showed the highest inhibition for S. aureus (11.2±1.6), E. coli (17.7±1.1), and A. niger (12.6±1.2) mm.

Graphical Abstract

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Data Availability Statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available due to privacy or ethical restrictions.

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