Analysis of boswellic acids in dietary supplements containing Indian frankincense (Boswellia serrata) by Supercritical Fluid Chromatography

Boswellic acids, a class of triterpenes, are the bioactive constituents in Indian frankincense, an herbal drug with pronounced anti-inflammatory activity. In this study their separation and quantification B. serrata extracts is reported for first time by using Supercritical Fluid Chromatography. Under optimized conditions, i.e. Viridis HSS C18 SB column carbon dioxide, methanol, acetonitrile ammonium hydroxide as mobile phase, six boswellic acids could be separated under 6 min. The assay fulfilled all validation criteria coefficients determination higher than 0.999, wide linear range (30-1000 ?g/mL), recovery rates from 97.1-103.0 %, excellent precision, detection limits typical SFC UV-detection (? 5.5 ?g/mL). method easily hyphenated to mass spectrometry, which was helpful tentatively assign further compounds (mainly derivatives tirucallic acid) increase assay's sensitivity. Its practical applicability confirmed analyzing several commercial products, mainly contained ?-boswellic acid dominant triterpene, yet extremely variable amounts ranging 0.9 16.9 %.