Assessment of phenolic profile of Turkish honeys

In this study, phenolic profile and antioxidant activity of 60 Turkish honey samples of nineteen different floral origins were evaluated by ultra-performance liquid chromatography with electrospray ionization coupled to tandem mass spectrometry, providing the identification of 32 phenolic compounds. Thyme (1051.58 mg/kg), pine (994.18 mg/kg), carob (935.03 mg/kg), eucalyptus (814.46 mg/kg), rhododendron (680.71 mg/kg), heather (562.59 mg/kg), cedar (561.83 mg/kg), and euphorbia (501.64 mg/kg) present significantly high phenolic content. Moreover ferulic, homogentisic, gentisic, syringic, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic, caffeic, vanillic, p-coumaric, 4-hydroxy benzoic, and trans-2-hydroxy cinnamic acids were the most abundant of the determined compounds. The antioxidant activities of the honeys were evaluated by β-carotene-linoleic acid inhibition, DPPH free radical scavenging activity and ABTS+ cation radical scavenging activity which were measured as IC50: 10.87 – 48.23 µg/mL, SC50: 54.33 – 99.40 µg/mL and SC50: 10.33 – 41.20 µg/mL, respectively. Phenolic compounds are considered antioxidant constituents, and they could be stated as components that account for antioxidant activity in Turkish honeys.