The beeswax sample was collected from the beehives, isolated and then refined. The first step of producing beeswax was to separate honey from beehives. The beehives which were cut put in hot water. The upper layer was crude beeswax, which was treated with phosphoric acid. The crude beeswax was purified through the bleaching. The objectives of this study are to identify headspace volatile compounds and to know the contents of α-carotenes and β-carotenes of korean beeswax. Headspace volatile compounds of Korean beeswax were measured by using the combination of dynamic headspace sampler (DS 5000, Donam System Inc.), gas chromatography and mass selective detector (HP5890 & 5971, Hewlett Packard). Seventy five compounds identified from about 100 peaks by analyzing the purified beeswax were 60 hydrocarbons, 8 carbonyls, 4 essential oils, 3 esters. Carotenes of Korean beeswax were analyzed by using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (Waters Inc.). As A result, the content of α-carotenes and β-carotenes were 0.07ppm, 0.011ppm individually.

• 권혜순 | Kwon, Hye-Soon