Combination of quantitative analysis and chemometric analysis for the quality evaluation of three different frankincenses by ultra high performance liquid chromatography and quadrupole time of flight mass spectrometry.

Frankincense has gained increasing attention in the pharmaceutical industry because of its pharmacologically active components such as boswellic acids. However, the identity and overall quality evaluation of three different frankincense species in different Pharmacopeias and the literature have less been reported. In this paper, quantitative analysis and chemometric evaluation were established and applied for the quality control of frankincense. Meanwhile, quantitative and chemometric analysis could be conducted under the same analytical conditions. In total 55 samples from four habitats (three species) of frankincense were collected and six boswellic acids were chosen for quantitative analysis. Chemometric analyses such as similarity analysis, hierarchical cluster analysis, and principal component analysis were used to identify frankincense of three species to reveal the correlation between its components and species. In addition, 12 chromatographic peaks have been tentatively identified explored by reference substances and quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The results indicated that the total boswellic acid profiles of three species of frankincense are similar and their fingerprints can be used to differentiate between them.