the compositions of absolute and supercritical co2 extract of aframomum melegueta were analysed by gc and gc-ms; 33 components, representing more than 98.3% of the absolute, and 43 components, representing more than 98.2% of the supercritical fluid extraction (sfe) product, were identified. the major components were, in the absolute and sfe product, respectively, [6]-paradol (35.1 and 13.3%), [6]-shogaol (21.5 and 6.1%), [6]-gingerdione (9.8 and 28.0%), -humulene (10.5 and 7.2%) and [6]-gingerol (1.3 and 10.0%). however gingerols are thermally unstable and can decompose under high temperature during gc analysis, therefore hplc was used for oleoresins analysis and phenyl alkenones quantification. copyright (c) 2005 john wiley & sons, ltd.