Mass Spectrometry-Based Identification of Bioactive Bee Pollen Proteins: Evaluation of Allergy Risk after Bee Pollen Supplementation.

Bee pollen, because of its high content of nutrients, is a very valuable medicinal and nutritional product. However, since its composition is not completely studied, the consumption of this product may cause adverse effects, including allergic reactions. Therefore, this study aimed to discover and characterize the bioactive proteins of bee pollen collected in Poland, focusing mainly on the allergens. For this purpose, the purified and concentrated pollen aqueous solutions were analyzed using the nanoLC-MALDI-TOF/TOF MS analytical platform. As a result of the experiments, 197 unique proteins derived from green plants (Viridiplantae) and 10 unique proteins derived from bees (Apis spp.) were identified. Among them, potential plant allergens were discovered. Moreover, proteins belonging to the group of hypothetical proteins, whose expression had not been confirmed experimentally before, were detected. Because of the content of bioactive compounds-both beneficial and harmful-there is a critical need to develop guidelines for standardizing bee pollen, especially intended for consumption or therapeutic purposes. This is of particular importance because awareness of the allergen content of bee pollen and other bee products can prevent health- or life-threatening incidents following the ingestion of these increasingly popular "superfoods".

Structural and Spectroscopic Properties of Isoconazole and Bifonazole-Experimental and Theoretical Studies.

The paper compares the experimental FT-IR, UV-vis, and 1H NMR spectra of isoconazole and bifonazole with the density functional theory (DFT) calculations using different functionals. The results were compared with previously reported data related to their analogue, posaconazole. The analysis of calculated IR spectra with use of CAM-B3LYP (isoconazole) or B3LYP (bifonazole) functionals shows good accordance with the experimental IR spectrum. The best compatibility between the experimental and theoretical UV spectra was observed with the use of B3LYP or wB97XD functionals for isoconazole or bifonazole, respectively. The reason for the difference in the UV-vis spectra of isoconazole and bifonazole was discussed based on linear response time-dependent DFT and natural bond orbital methods. The calculated 1H NMR spectrum shows that the DFT formalism, particularly the B3LYP functional, give an accurate description of the isoconazole and bifonazole chemical shifts.