Separation and purification of cardol, cardanol and anacardic acid from cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.) nut-shell liquid using a simple two-step column chromatography

Abstract

Long chain phenols contained in cashew nut shell liquid have important applications. Anacardic acids and cardols are extensively used in the pharmaceutical industry, while cardanols find use in resins, coating and polymer industries. In this work, a two-step reversed-phase silica gel column chromatography was employed to purify these major phenols in cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL). 6-Pentadecyl salicylic acid (C₂₂H₃₆O₃, 98.8% purity and 82.4% recovery), 5-pentadecyl resorcinol (C₂₁H₃₆O₂, 99.3% purity and 80.7% recovery) and 3-pentadecyl phenol (C₂₁H₃₆O, 99.2% purity and 81.8% recovery) were successfully obtained and identified by ¹H and ¹³C NMR, FTIR, mass spectrometry and elemental analysis.