Analysis of eleven capsaicinoids by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography

More than 90 different capsicums are found all over the world. They contain capsaicinoids, which are responsible for the hot and pungent flavour. After extraction by a methanol–water mixture (60:40, v/v) from capsicum oleoresins, 13 compounds were separated by analytical HPLC on a C18 Hypersil column eluted with methanol–water–acetic acid (60:39:1, v/v/v) containing 0.0379 mol.l−1 of AgNO3, and 11 of these were identified by 1H nuclear magnetic resonance as capsaicinoids. This method was applied to the quantification of the 10 major capsaicinoids in Cayenne pepper and Capsicum frutescens L.