Boswellia Serrata Extract

Boswellia serrata extract is made from the oleo-gum-resin tapped from the trunk of Boswellia serrata Roxb. ex Colebr., family Burseraceae — Indian frankincense, known in trade as salai guggul and in the Ayurvedic Pharmacopoeia of India as Kunduru, with Śallakī as the Sanskrit synonym. The raw exudate is a three-part material: a water-soluble gum fraction of pentose and hexose sugars, a volatile oil fraction of mono-, di- and sesquiterpenes, and a resin fraction rich in pentacyclic triterpene acids. Extraction with a water-immiscible solvent followed by alkali partition and acid precipitation strips out the gum and most of the volatile oil and concentrates the acidic triterpene fraction, which is what the assay is written against. The single most important commercial point on this product is which analytical method the percentage refers to, and it is where most disputed shipments originate. Total boswellic acids by titrimetry gives 65%, 70%, 75% and 85% grades. Total boswellic acids by HPLC on the same material typically reads 30–40%, because titration responds to acidic matter more broadly than a marker-specific chromatographic method. A 65% titrimetric extract is not a 65% HPLC extract, and the two prices are not comparable. Thovek quotes and ships against a stated method, a stated marker set and a stated reference standard, and the certificate of analysis carries all three. The marker compounds are β-boswellic acid (CAS 631-69-6), 11-keto-β-boswellic acid or KBA (CAS 17019-92-0), and 3-O-acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid or AKBA (CAS 67416-61-9), together with the acetyl-α and acetyl-β homologues. AKBA runs at roughly 2–3% in a conventional 65% titrimetric extract; enriched grades at 10%, 20% and 30% AKBA by HPLC are produced by further fractionation and are priced accordingly. The material is an off-white to pale brown fine powder with a characteristic balsamic resinous odour, practically insoluble in water and soluble in ethanol, methanol and DMSO. It is plant-derived and suitable for vegan and vegetarian claims, non-GMO, and free of milk, egg, soy, fish, crustacean, mollusc, peanut, tree nut, sesame, mustard, celery, lupin and gluten. Note that despite the trade name salai guggul, this is Boswellia serrata and not Commiphora mukul (guggul) — the two are distinct botanicals and must not be substituted.