摘要：Chemical characterization of bee pollen is of great importance for its quality estimation. Multifloral and unifloral bee pollen samples collected from continental, mountain and Adriatic regions of Croatia were analyzed by means of physico-chemical, chromatographic (GC-MS), and spectroscopic (FTIR-ATR) analytical tools, aiming to conduct a comprehensive characterization of bee pollen. The most distinctive unifloral bee pollen with regard to nutritional value was
Aesculus hippocastanum (27.26% of proteins),
Quercus spp. (52.58% of total sugars),
Taraxacum
officinale (19.04% of total lipids), and
Prunus
avium (3.81% of ash). No statistically significant differences between multifloral and unifloral bee pollen from different regions were found for most of the physico-chemical measurement data, with an exception of melezitose (
p = 0.04). Remarkable differences were found among the bee pollen HS VOCs. The major ones were lower aliphatic compounds, monoterpenes (mainly linalool derivatives, especially in
Prunus
mahaleb and
P.
avium bee pollen), and benzene derivatives (mainly benzaldehyde in
T.
officinale and
Salix spp.). Aldehydes C
9 to C
17 were present in almost all samples. FTIR-ATR analysis revealed unique spectral profiles of analyzed bee pollen exhibiting its overall chemical composition arising from molecular vibrations related to major macromolecules—proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates (sugars).
