Separation of cashew nut shell liquid by column chromatography

Abstract

Cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) a natural product that consists of a mixture of phenolic compounds was separated into cardanol, cardol, and 2 - methylcardol using column chromatography. The separation was aimed at recovering cardanol that can be used in the synthesis of cation-exchange resin. The separation was effected using a mixture of equal portions of benzene and chloroform as the mobile phase in a column packed with silica gel adsorbent of particle size 60–120 mesh as the stationary phase. The mean RF-values determined from the study were cardanol (0.516), cardol (0.173) and 2-methylcardol (0.148). The corresponding RM-values calculated were cardanol (-0.040), cardol (0.673), 2-methylcardol (0.753). The RF-value is a measure of the affinity of the component for the mobile phase. The results show that the component that eluted first from the column which was cardanol had the highest affinity for the mobile phase, followed by cardol while the 2-methylcardol had the least affinity. The RM-value is a measure of the polarity of the component and its affinity for the stationary phase. The results of this study show that the component that eluted last from the column which was 2-methylcardol was the most polar. The molecular structures of these three components also show that 2-methylcardol is the most polar followed by cardol and the least polar was cardanol. The RF-value of cardanol obtained in this study could be used in the design of an industrial chromatographic column for its separation from CNSL. African Journal of Science and Technology Vol. 5(2) 2004: 92-95