The Properties of Frankincense Essential Oil

The Essential Properties of Frankincense Essential Oil

by the Doctor Matteo Politi

Pharmacological activity

The smell of resin and dust of incense, as well as burning incense, has been linked to a number of health effects since ancient times.
Furthermore, incense and its fumes are used as a means to induce positive psychophysical effects and well-being, not only in an ecclesiastical context but also in traditional medical applications.⁶
Several works have described the antitumor, antimicrobial, immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory, hypoglycemic, antiasthmatic, antidiarrheal, hypolipidemic, antidiabetic, hepatoprotective and antiviral effects of different species of Boswellia.⁷

Anti-tumor activity

The anti-tumor activity of frankincense essential oil has been tested on numerous cell lines using various experimental models, demonstrating the considerable interest that this natural derivative arouses with regard to this type of pharmacological activity.^8–11

Antimicrobial activity

The antimicrobial activity of frankincense essential oil has been tested on various pathogens including Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, E. coli, Proteus vulgaris And Candida albicans showing good to moderate effects depending on the strain tested.^5,12

Phytochemical profile

There Boswellia sacra And B. carteri They are generally recognized as a single species, although highly variable, showing differences in morphology, growth form and resin chemistry, and are thus considered by various authors as separate species.^1,2 The yield of essential oil obtained by hydrodistillation of the resin (incense) of Boswellia sacra collection in Oman was found to be 5.5% (volume/weight).³ The essential oil was characterized by the high content of monoterpenes (34) which constituted 97,3% of which p-cymene and limonene were the main constituents. The remaining 2,7% was represented by sesquiterpenes (16) in which β-caryophyllene was the main constituent. The analysis demonstrated the complete absence of diterpenes.³ In another sample from Somalia, two sequiterpene ketones were also identified which, although present in trace amounts, contributed significantly to characterising the aromatic profile of the sample in question.⁴ However, a comparative study on 20 different samples highlighted the remarkable phytochemical variability of frankincense essential oil; in particular, considering the main constituents, the essential oils were qualitatively similar but showed a remarkable quantitative variation for some main components including α-pinene (2.0–64.7%); α-thujene (0.3–52.4%); β-pinene (0.3–13.1%); myrcene (1.1–22.4%); sabinene (0.5–7.0%); limonene (1.3–20.4%); p-cymene (2.7–16.9%) and β-caryophyllene (0.1–10.5%).⁵

Boswellia sacra Flueck.

• Angiosperms
• Burseraceae
• Boswellia

botanical nomenclature source

Bibliography

1. Woolley CL, Suhail MM, Smith BL, et al. Chemical differentiation of Boswellia sacra and Boswellia carterii essential oils by gas chromatography and chiral gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. J Chromatogr A. 2012;1261:158-163. doi:10.1016/j.chroma.2012.06.073

2. DeCarlo A, Johnson S, Poudel A, Satyal P, Bangerter L, Setzer WN. Chemical Variation in Essential Oils from the Oleo-gum Resin of Boswellia carteri: A Preliminary Investigation. Chem Biodivers. 2018;15:e1800047. doi:10.1002/cbdv.201800047

3. Al-Harrasi A, Al-Saidi S. Phytochemical analysis of the essential oil from botanically certified oleogum resin of Boswellia sacra (Omani luban). Molecules. 2008;13:2181-2189. doi:10.3390/molecules13092181

4. Niebler J, Zhuravlova K, Minceva M, Buettner A. Fragrant Sesquiterpene Ketones as Trace Constituents in Frankincense Volatile Oil of Boswellia sacra. J Nat Prod. 2016;79(4):1160–1164. doi:10.1021/acs.jnatprod.5b00836

5. Van Vuuren SF, Kamatou GPP, Viljoen AM. Volatile composition and antimicrobial activity of twenty commercial frankincense essential oil samples. South African J Bot. 2010;76:686–691. doi:10.1016/j.sajb.2010.06.001

6. Mertens M, Buettner A, Kirchhoff E. The volatile constituents of frankincense – A review. Flavour Fragrance J. 2009;24:279–300. doi:10.1002/ffj.1942

7. Rashan L, Hakkim F, Idrees M, et al. Boswellia Gum Resin and Essential Oils: Potential Health Benefits – An Evidence Based Review. Int J Nutr Pharmacol Neurol Dis. 2019;9(2):53-71. doi:10.4103/ijnpnd.ijnpnd_11_19

8. Frank MB, Yang Q, Osban J, et al. Frankincense oil derived from Boswellia carteri induces tumor cell specific cytotoxicity. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2009;9:6. doi:10.1186/1472-6882-9-6

9. Suhail MM, Wu W, Cao A, et al. Boswellia sacra essential oil induces tumor cell-specific apoptosis and suppresses tumor aggressiveness in cultured human breast cancer cells. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2011;11:129. doi:10.1186/1472-6882-11-129

10. Chen Y, Zhou C, Ge Z, et al. Composition and potential anticancer activities of essential oils obtained from myrrh and frankincense. Oncol Lett. 2013;6:1140-1146. doi:10.3892/ol.2013.1520

11. Ni X, Suhail MM, Yang Q, et al. Frankincense essential oil prepared from hydrodistillation of Boswellia sacra gum resins induces human pancreatic cancer cell death in cultures and in a xenograft murine model. BMC Complement Altern Med. 2012;12:253. doi:10.1186/1472-6882-12-253

12. Al-Saidi S, Rameshkumar KB, Hisham A, Sivakumar N, Al-Kindy S. Composition and antibacterial activity of the essential oils of four commercial grades of omani luban, the oleo-gum resin of boswellia sacra flueck. Chem Biodivers. 2012;9:615-624. doi:10.1002/cbdv.201100189