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Biology of Genus Boswellia pp 153–162Cite as

Resin Composition and Structural Diversity

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Abstract

Frankincense is composed of different components, among which its essential oil and acidic fraction are the most important. The diverse terpenes of the resins harvested from the 19 species in the Boswellia genus have attracted the interest of biologists, chemists, pharmacologists and medicinal chemists due to their fascinating structural diversity, interesting structures and exceptional biological activities. There are interesting variations in the terpene concentrations of different Boswellia species. The essential oils from all the reported species have been found to contain more than 300 volatile constituents. Moreover, more than 100 diterpenes and triterpenes have been reported from this genus. This number clearly demonstrates the enormous structural diversity in the genus Boswellia. This chapter summarizes the terpenes reported from all the Boswellia species. Details on their isolation, structural modifications and biological activities have been reported elsewhere.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Nizwa, Nizwa, Oman

    Ahmed Al-Harrasi, Abdul Latif Khan, Sajjad Asaf & Ahmed Al-Rawahi

Authors
  1. Ahmed Al-Harrasi
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  2. Abdul Latif Khan
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  3. Sajjad Asaf
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  4. Ahmed Al-Rawahi
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Al-Harrasi, A., Khan, A.L., Asaf, S., Al-Rawahi, A. (2019). Resin Composition and Structural Diversity. In: Biology of Genus Boswellia. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-16725-7_10

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