Detection and identification of simple phenolics in Pistacia lentiscus resin

Identification and quantification of a series of phenolic compounds in Pistacia lentiscus resin, commonly known as Chios mastic gum, has been achieved based on high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) fractionation of polar extract of the resin prior to dual-column gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analysis. Polyphenols were extracted from the resin with methanol/water and the extract was fractionated by HPLC. Identification of tyrosol, p-hydroxy-benzoic, p-hydroxy-phenylacetic, vanillic, gallic, and trans-cinnamic acids was performed on both HP-5 and Innowax columns using GC-MS at SIM mode. Also, the triterpenoids dihydroabietic acid, oleanolic and its isomer ursolic acid and hydroxy-ursenal were detected in the same HPLC run with polyphenols, as a result of GC-MS at full scan mode.