Formic acid honey

Hansen, H. and Guldborg, M. (1988). Residues in honey and wax after treatment of bee colonies with formic acid. Tidsskr. Planteavl. 92, 7-10. 

Stoya, W., Wachendoerfer, G., Kary, I., Siebentritt, P., and Kaiser, E. (1986). Formic acid as a therapeutic against varroatose and its effect on honey. Dtsch Lebensm. Rundsch. 82, 217-221. 

Tracheal mites were also killed by formic acid [51]. This parasite, Acarapis woodi (Acari Tarsonemidae), lives in the tracheal tubes of adult honey bees. The bees die because of the disruption to respiration caused by the mites clogging the tracheae. 

A mixture of 61 grams l-phenyl-l-oxo-2-(N-methyl-N-ethanolamino)-propane hydrochloride and 100 cc 98-100% formic acid was refluxed at the boiling point at atmospheric pressure for 45 minutes on an oil bath. Thereafter, the oil bath temperature was increased to 180°C and as much of the excess unreacted formic acid as possible was distilled off. A vigorous evolution of carbon dioxide developed during the distillation, which ceased after approximately 45 additional minutes. The honey-yellow syrup which remained as the distillation residue was worked up by admixing it with about six volumes of water and adjusting the aqueous mixture to alkaline reaction with concentrated sodium hydroxide. An oily phase separated out which was extracted with ether. The ether extract was washed with water and dried over potassium carbonate. The solvent was distilled off and the distillation residue was fractionally distilled in vacuo. The base boils at 132°-133°C at 12 mm. The yield was 93% of theory. Reaction with tartaric acid gave the final product. 

Formic acid, like formaldehyde, has good disinfectant properties. It exists in honey preventing it from being spoilt easily. It is also used in textile dying and leather tanning. In addition, formic acid is a starting material in the production of fertilizers, rubbers and plastics. Plus the calcium salt of formic acid is a good softener when dissolved in water. 

A 2008 paper has described for the first time a dilute and shoot strategy for the simultaneous extraction of wide variety of residues and contaminants (pesticides, myco-toxins, plant toxins, and veterinary drugs) from different foods (meat, milk, honey, and eggs) and feed matrices. Several antimicrobial classes were included (sulfonamides, quinolones, P-lactams, macrolides, ionophores, tetracyclines, and nitroimidazoles) in the analytical method. Sample extraction was performed with water/acetonitrile or acetone/1% formic acid, but instead of dilution of the extracts before analysis by UPLC-MS/MS, small extract volumes (typically 5 til) were injected to minimize matrix effects. Despite the absence of clean-up steps and the inherent complexity of the different sample matrices, adequate recoveries were obtained for the majority of the ana-lyte/matrix combinations (typical values for antimicrobials were in the range of 70-120%). In addition, the use of UPLC allows high-speed analysis, since all analytes eluted within 9 min. 

Recently, Su ez-Luque et al. developed a method for the analysis of chloride, nitrate, sulfate, phosphate, and formic acid in honey samples by CE with indirect UV detection. The separation was achieved using 2 mM potassium dichromate and 0.05 mM tetraethylenepentamine (TEPA), pH 4.00. The detection limit was in the range between 0.03 and 20 mg/kg of the lA. 

OA in milk powder, Cheddar cheese, and plain liquid yogurt lA (chloride, nitrate, sulfate, phosphate) and formic acid in honey... 

Suirez-Luque, S., Mato, L, Huidobro, J. R, Simal-Lozano, J., and Sancho, M. T., Capillary zone electrophoresis method for the determination of inorganic anions and formic acid in honey, J. Agric. Food Chem., 54, 9292, 2006. 

Slovenian honeys Robinia pseudoacacia, Tilia spp., Castanea saliva, Abies alba Mill., Picea abies (L.) Karst 4 flavonols, 3 flavones, 3 flavanones, 1 flavanonol LLE (acidified water pH 2) SPE, MeOH-MeCN (2 1, v v). Phenomenex Luna Cig column (150 X 2.0 mm, 3 pm) Gradient 1 % formic acid (aq.) and MeCN DAD-MS (-ve, TQ, MS ) [126]... 

In honey gluconic acid is in equilibrium with its gluconolactone. The acid level is mostly dependent on the time elapsed between nectar collection by bees and achievement of the final honey density in honeycomb cells. Glucose oxidase activity drops to a negligible level in thickened honey. Other acids present in honey only in small amounts are acetic, butyric, lactic, citric, succinic, formic, maleic, malic and oxalic acids. 

Honey consists chiefly of dextrose and levu-lose (70-80%) with smaller amount of water, sucrose (2-10%), dextrin, wax, proteins, volatile oil, minerals, acids, and coloring and flavoring components, based on derivative plant source contains vitamin Bi, vitamin B2, vitamin C, nicotinic acid, and formic acid (csiR i martestdale). 

Bogdanov, S., Charriere, J. D., Imdorf, A., Kilchenmann, V., and Fluri, P. (2002). Determination of residues in honey after treatments with formic and oxalic acid under field conditions. Apidologie 33, 399-409. 

Acidity.—50 c.c. of the solution prepared as in 2 (above) are titrated with N/10-KOH until a drop of the liquid no longer reddens blue litmus paper. The acidity is expressed usually in c.c. of N-KOH per 100 grams of honey, but sometimes as formic add 1 c.c. N/10-alkali = 00046 gram of formic add. 

Several extraction techniques have been reported in the literature for the analysis of sulfonamides. Because of their polar nature, sulfonamides are readily extracted by organic solvents ° ° the most commonly used are acetonitrile.Other organic solvents used for analyte extraction and protein precipitation include dichloromethane, " acetone, ethanol, chloroform, and ethyl acetate, " which are often used either alone or in conjunction with one another. Other techniques used for protein precipitation include the use of acids such as perchloric or formic and the use of basic buffers such as potassium hydrogen phosphate and ammonium sulfate. In the case of honey, the use of acids such as trichloroacetic, " " hydrochloric, and phosphoric is necessary for hydrolysis, releasing carbohydrate-bound sulfonamide residues. Other extraction techniques reported in the literature include the use of pressurized liquid extractions, " matrix solid-phase dispersion, and magnetic molec-ularly imprinted polymers. Of additional note, several authors have observed that analyte recoveries were largely... 

As can be expected, many aspects of the citric acid chemistry are linked with chemical analysis of citric acid or citrates in biological materials [169, 172, 179, 326-328], in fermentation media [179, 188, 192, 329-333], in foods [155, 334-340], in fraits [165, 177, 341-347], in tomato-based products [348-350], in musts, wines and beers [155, 174, 351-363], in soft drinks and fruit juices [155, 165, 177, 361, 364-377], in milk and dairy products [155,170,173,176,378-386], in honey [387, 388], in pharmaceutical formulations [361, 389-391], in medical tests (blood, se-ram, mine, pancreatic juice and other physiological flttids) [162, 183, 187, 193-195,392-400], and in mixtures with other caiboxyhc acids (formic, acetic, tartaric, malic, oxalic, isocitric, succinic, lactic, pyruvic, oxalacetic and others) [160, 184, 211,265,401-409]. 

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