Volatile Compounds of Royal Jelly
摘要
Up until 2016, it was challenging to find references on the royal jelly (RJ) volatiles. Identifying these compounds in RJ has gained a lot of attention since then. This chapter provides an update on the chemical composition of volatiles in RJ since 2016. China, including Taiwan, Egypt, Italy, Malaysia, Morocco, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and the United States of America were among the many RJ samples’ geographical origins. The RJ samples were sourced from Apis mellifera L., A. mellifera carnica Poll., and from hybrids of A. mellifera (A. mellifera ligustica and A. mellifera carnica) colonies or from commercial source. The primary techniques for separating RJ volatiles included extraction with organic solvents, hydrodistillation, and headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME), employing various extraction times and temperatures, with the divinyl benzene (DVB)/carboxy (CAR)/polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) fiber being the most commonly used. The separation and identification of the volatiles were generally performed by using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Carboxylic esters, carboxylic acids, esters/lactones, aldehydes/ketones, alcohols, hydrocarbons, terpenes, ethers among other compounds were detected in RJ samples. The most often mentioned volatiles found in different RJ samples were: hexanoic, octanoic, nonanoic, 10-hydroxydecanoic, (E)-10-hydroxydec-2-enoic acids; methylbenzoate, methylsalicylate, benzaldehyde, furfural, 8-nonen-2-one, 2-nonanone, 2-heptanone, benzeneacetaldehyde, nonanal, and phenol.