Chemical diversity and biological activity of African propolis

Natural remedies have for centuries played a significant role in traditional medicine and continue to be a unique reservoir of new chemical entities in drug discovery and development research. Propolis is a natural substance, collected by bees mainly from plant resins, which has a long history of use as a folk remedy to treat a variety of ailments. The highly variable phytochemical composition of propolis is attributed to differences in plant diversity within the geographic regions from which it is collected. Despite the fact that the last five decades has seen significant advancements in the understanding of the chemistry and biological activity of propolis, a search of the literature has revealed that studies on African propolis to date are rather limited. The aim of this contribution is to report on the current body of knowledge of African propolis, with a particular emphasis on its chemistry and biological activity. As Africa is a continent with a rich flora and a vast diversity of ecosystems, there is a wide range of propolis phytochemicals that may be exploited in the development of new drug scaffolds.