Research Article Identification of Phenolic Compounds From Honey Ob-tained From Theni District, Tamilnadu, India

Honey is a sweet and flavorful, natural product, which is consumed for its high nutritive value and for its effects on human health, with antioxidant, bacteriostatic, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties, as well as wound and sunburn-healing effects. Phenolic compounds are an important group of active compounds in honey. The aim of the present study was to identify and characterize the phenolic compounds from Megamalai, Theni District. In the present study, these phenolic compounds were extracted and recovered, with solid phase extraction procedure. The recovered fractions, from five gram of honey, yielded a dry residue of 51±0.5mg. Nearly every gram of honey yielded a residue of 10mg. These extracts were identified and quantified, with HPLC, GC-MS and FTIR. A total of five different phenolic acids were identified, with the most abundant being gallic acid, rutin, followed by caffeic acid, ferulic acid and quercetin. These phenolic compounds containing good antioxidant and antibacterial potential. Overall, The study confirms that the honey sample from Megamalai, Theni District is a good source of phenolic acids and flavonoids. It is recommended that further studies should bring out the antimicrobial properties of these phenolic compounds and other hidden antimicrobial and antioxidant properties from this honey