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Natural resins and balsams from an eighteenth-century pharmaceutical collection analysed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry

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Abstract

Historical nomenclature has not always been unequivocally associated with the botanical origin of natural resins. The availability of natural resins has changed throughout the centuries and so have their trade names. Furthermore, adulterations and lack of knowledge have led to variations in the composition of the products traded under the same name. This investigation aims at a new understanding of the interrelation between the historical and modern terms for natural resins. Different Pinaceae and Pistacia resins, mastic, sandarac, copaiba balm and burgundy pitch from Vigani’s Cabinet, a 300-year-old pharmaceutical collection owned by Queens’ College, Cambridge (UK) were investigated. Related reference materials from modern collections were analysed together with natural resins derived from reliable botanical sources. The analytical method was gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC-MS) with and without derivatisation with trimethylsulfonium hydroxide. This technique provided detailed molecular compositions of the studied materials, which in turn led to particular data profiles of the materials. Marker molecules of Copaifera, Pinaceae, Cupressaceae and Pistacia resins were identified. By comparing the GC-MS data profiles to the reference samples, a clearer picture of the connection between nomenclature and botanical origin was obtained. With the aid of the marker molecules and data profiles, it was then possible to clarify the nomenclature of the aged resins sampled from Vigani’s Cabinet.

Four drawers from the Vigani Cabinet

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Acknowledgements

This investigation was funded by a stipend from the Stifterverband der Deutschen Wissenschaft and KulturInvest foundation. The authors are greatly indebted to The President and Fellows of Queens’ College, Cambridge, for allowing the samples to be taken from the Vigani’s Cabinet at Queen’s College and to Dr. Brian Callingham, of Queens’ College, Cambridge, for his help with the project and for taken the photographs. We are also very grateful to Annegret Fuhrmann for her assistance during the experimental work.

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  1. Chemistry and Food Chemistry, Institute for Biochemistry, Technical University Dresden, 01062, Dresden, Germany

    Gundel Steigenberger

  2. Laboratory of Archaeometry, Academy of Fine Arts Dresden, Güntzstraße 34, 01307, Dresden, Germany

    Christoph Herm

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  1. Gundel Steigenberger
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  2. Christoph Herm
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Correspondence to Gundel Steigenberger or Christoph Herm.

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Published in the special issue Analytical Chemistry to Illuminate the Past with guest editor Maria Perla Colombini.

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Steigenberger, G., Herm, C. Natural resins and balsams from an eighteenth-century pharmaceutical collection analysed by gas chromatography/mass spectrometry. Anal Bioanal Chem 401, 1771–1784 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-011-5169-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-011-5169-y

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