Analysis of triterpene acids in Boswellia serrata by Supercritical Fluid Chromatography

The gum resin of Boswellia serrata, also known as Indian frankincense, is a commonly used traditional medicine with many desired pharmacological, especially anti-inflammatory, effects. They are due to specific acidic triterpenes in the plant, boswellic acids (BAs) [1]. Even though many techniques have been evaluated for their analysis, the use of Supercritical Fluid Chromatography has never been considered before. In this study, the baseline separation of six boswellic acids, all derivatives of α- and β-BA, in less than 6 min by SFC is described, using a Viridis HSS C18 SB column and a mobile phase comprising carbon dioxide and a mixture of methanol, acetonitrile and ammonium hydroxide. In respect to speed this surpasses all other currently known analytical approaches. The method was successfully validated following ICH guidelines (e. g., R²≥0.999, LOD≤5.5 mg/mL)

and could easily be hyphenated to mass spectrometry. This permitted the tentative assignment of further triterpene acids (mainly tirucallic acid derivatives), together with significantly improved sensitivity.The practical applicability of the method was confirmed by analyzing commercially available dietary supplements containing B. serrata gum resin or extracts thereof. Although the investigated products all exhibited β-boswellic acid as major constituent, the total concentration of BAs was extremely variable (2,61-43,24%).

Publikationsverlauf

Artikel online veröffentlicht:
13. Dezember 2021

• References

• 1 Vo N.N.Q., Nomura Y., Muranaka T.. E.O Fukushima. Structure-activity relationships of pentacyclic triterpenoids as inhibitors of cyclooxygenase and lipoxygenase enzymes J. Nat. Prod., 82 (2019), pp. 3311-3320