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That probably doesn't contribute much to the flavor - that gives the heat. If you modified the molecule you'd likely lose that effect (you can see that with variants like the dihydro).
The biggest target of opportunity is the double bond on the terpenoid end. That gets reduced in dihydro (which is just a bit less heat). The chain length has an effect - an extra carbon atom cuts the heat in half. Easiest would be to oxidize the double bond to an alcohol but I bet you'd lose the heat completely as it wouldn't bind the receptor nearly as well, and would become a lot more water soluble.
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