Beeswax - Glands under the abdomen of bees secrete a wax, which they use to construct the honeycomb. The wax is recovered as a by-product when the honey is harvested and refined. It contains a high proportion of wax esters (35 to 80%). The hydrocarbon content is highly variable, and much may be "unnatural" as beekeepers may feed some to bees to improve the yield of honey. The wax esters consist of C40 to C46 (Carbon Chain) molecular species, based on 16:0 and 18:0 fatty acids some with hydroxyl groups.
In addition, some diesters with up to 64 carbons may be present, together with triesters, hydroxy-polyesters and free acids (which are different in composition and nature from the esterified acids).
The constituents of Bees Wax are as follows:
ESTERS -70-71%
ALCOHOLS -1-1.5%
FREE ACIDS -9.6-10.9%
HYDROCABON -12.1-15.1%
HYDROXY FLAVONE -0.3%
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