Optimization of supercritical CO2 extraction of incensole-enriched oil from Boswellia papyrifera resin using response surface methodology

Incensole is a macrocyclic diterpene naturally existing in the frankincense extracted from the trees of the genus Boswellia and possesses a wide spectrum of promising bioactivities. This study discusses for the first time the optimization of supercritical CO2 extracting incensole-enriched oil from the frankincense of Boswellia papyrifera tree. The extraction parameters of temperature, pressure, and extraction time were optimized to obtain the maximum extraction yield and incensole content simultaneously using response surface methodology (RSM) and box-Behnken design, and the compounds extracted under optimal conditions were analyzed. Under the optimal conditions of a pressure of 23.0 MPa, a temperature of 40.0 degrees C, and an extraction period of 3.3 h, the incensole-enriched oil yield achieved 25.0%, in which incensole content of 40.5 wt% was observed and its recovery was 59.8%. The results indicate that the supercritical CO2 extraction technique can be applied to extract incensole-enriched oil from frankincense.