Fourier-transform Raman spectroscopic study of frankincense and myrrh

The application of FT-Raman spectroscopy to the non-destructive analysis of natural resins is illustrated here with several samples of two natural resins; frankincense and myrrh. Both resins are multicomponent systems and comparison of the spectra of the two resins with those of individual samples from each resin was effected. This leads to a means of identifying, frankincense and myrrh of differing concentrations of constituent species, using FT-Raman spectroscopy. The samples were not pre-treated before analysis and were used directly from their respective storage collections. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.