Appropriate maceration duration for the extraction of propolis

The importance of the use of natural products as nutritional supplements in order to increase the quality of life and prevent diseases has increased in recent years. Among these products, propolis produced by honey bees is collected from plants and has a very complex structure in terms of chemical content. Propolis and its extracts have been used by humans for centuries because of its various bioactive properties. Although different methods can be used in the extraction stage, the most commonly used technique is extraction by maceration. However, there is no standard time period for extraction of propolis by maceration. We aimed to determine the changes in the concentrations of flavonoid group compounds pinocembrin, chrysin, tectochrysin, pi-nostrobin chalcone, gengwanin, naringenin and galangin from propolis samples exposed to seven different periods (1, 2, 5 10, 15, 20, 30 days) of maceration using GC-MS. The flavonoids pinocembrin, chrysin, tectochrysin, and naringenin reached their maximum concentrations at the end of 15 days of maceration and a decrease in their concentrations was observed after this period. The concentrations of other flavonoids did not show a steady increase or decrease with different maceration times. As a result, it can be said that the appropriate duration of maceration to extract the flavonoids responsible for propolis' numerous activities varies depending on the origin of the propolis and the nature of the compounds to be extracted.