Chemistry and Bioactivity of Boswellic Acids and Other Terpenoids of the Genus Boswellia

Prof. Ahmed Al-Harrasi received his BSc in Chemistry from Sultan Qaboos University in Oman in 1997. Then he moved to the Free University of Berlin from which he obtained his MSc in Chemistry in 2002 and then his PhD in Organic Chemistry in 2005 as a DAAD-fellow under the supervision of Prof. Hans-Ulrich Reissig. His PhD work was on New Transformations of Enantiopure 1,2-oxazines. He then received the Fulbright award in 2008 for postdoctoral research in chemistry, for which he joined Prof. Tadhg Begely at Cornell University to work on the synthesis of isotopically-labeled thiamin pyrophosphate. After a postdoctoral research stay at Cornell University in 2009, he started his independent research at the University of Nizwa in Oman, where he founded the chair of Oman’s Medicinal Plants and Marine Natural Products, merging chemistry and biological research.Dr. Al-Harrasi is currently a professor of organic chemistry and the Vice Chancellor for Graduate Studies, Research and External Relations at the University of Nizwa. He was a chair and invited speaker in many international conferences, and is a reviewer for more than 15 international chemistry and biotechnology journals. He has authored and co-authored over 290 scientific papers and six book chapters, and taught many chemistry courses both at MSc and BSc levels.

• 1. Introduction2. Boswellia Species: taxonomy and traditional uses3. Chemistry of Boswellic Acids4. Synthetic Derivatives of Boswellic Acids5. Miscellaneous Natural Products Isolated from Boswellia6. Biological Activities of Boswellic Acids7. Biological Activities of Boswellia Extracts8. Biological Activities of Cembrene Diterpenoids9. Conclusion10. References