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The volatile components of a Chinese chilli pepper (Capsicum annuum L. var. longum Sendt) were identified at different levels of ripeness. The peppers at the green, ripening, and full color stages were investigated by simultaneous distillation extraction (SDE) combined with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to analyze the main factors at each of the stages studied. Eighty-one volatile components were identified and quantified in this study. Twenty-two compounds were found at the green stage, forty-four at the ripening stage, and sixty-one at the full color stage. Qualitative and quantitative discrepancies were observed at the different levels of ripeness. Hexanal, 2-hexenal and propanoic acid-2-methyl-hexyl ester were the most abundant components at the green stage, while 2-pentanol was important at the ripening stage, and 3-hexen-1-ol was related to the full color stage.
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