The present study focused on the evaluation of phytochemical properties, essential mineral elements, and heavy metals contained in raw propolis produced by stingless bees Geniotrigona thoracica, Heterotrigona itama, and Tetrigona binghami found in the same ecological conditions and environment in Brunei Darussalam. The results indicated that propolis of the three stingless bee species mainly consisted of lipids (45.60–47.86%) and very low carbohydrate (0.17–0.48%) and protein contents (0.18–1.18%). The propolis was rich in mineral elements, thus good sources of minerals, while they contained low concentrations of all heavy metals. Propolis of the different bee species could be distinguished based on their mineral compositions. The vibrational and absorption spectra suggested that propolis contains π-conjugated aliphatic and aromatic compounds as well as aromatic acids having amine, ester, carbonyl, alkyl, and hydroxyl functional groups which might be attributed to the presence of phenolic and flavonoid compounds. The antioxidant capacity of the propolis, based on radical scavenging activity of their ethanol extract, was in line with their total phenolic content. The ethanol extract of the propolis also showed antimicrobial activities against four bacterial strains (Bacillus subtilis, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa). The propolis showed slightly higher antibacterial activity against Gram-positive (B. subtilis and S. aureus) bacteria, indicating that the antimicrobial active compounds could be associated with flavonoids, which were quantified to be approximately comparable in all the propolis.

本研究的重点是评估无刺蜂Geniotrigona thoracica、Heterotrigona itama和Tetrigona binghami生产的原始蜂胶中所含的植物化学性质、必需矿物元素和重金属在文莱达鲁萨兰国相同的生态条件和环境中发现。结果表明，三种无刺蜂的蜂胶主要由脂质（45.60-47.86%）和极低的碳水化合物（0.17-0.48%）和蛋白质含量（0.18-1.18%）组成。蜂胶含有丰富的矿物质元素，是矿物质的良好来源，而所有重金属的浓度都较低。不同蜂种的蜂胶可以根据它们的矿物成分来区分。振动和吸收光谱表明蜂胶含有π-共轭脂肪族和芳香族化合物以及具有胺、酯、羰基、烷基和羟基官能团的芳香酸，这可能归因于酚类和黄酮类化合物的存在。蜂胶的抗氧化能力，基于其乙醇提取物的自由基清除活性，与它们的总酚含量一致。蜂胶的乙醇提取物还显示出对四种细菌菌株的抗菌活性（枯草芽孢杆菌、金黄色葡萄球菌、大肠杆菌和铜绿假单胞菌）。蜂胶对革兰氏阳性（枯草芽孢杆菌和金黄色葡萄球菌）细菌显示出稍高的抗菌活性，表明抗菌活性化合物可能与黄酮类化合物有关，在所有蜂胶中被量化为大致相当。