Cashew nut shells are agro-wastes produced from cashew nut processing factories and contain about 30–35 wt% oil called cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL). This liquid is a mixture of four potential compounds, namely anacardic acid, cardanol, cardol and 2-methyl cardol. Various reactions have been developed to convert the components of cashew nut shell liquid into industrially important chemicals, and these materials are herein described. Such reactions employed in the transformation include transfer hydrogenation reactions, isomerization reactions, metathesis reactions, carbonylation reactions, polymerization reactions, isomerizing metathesis reaction, and isomerizing carbonylation reactions. Through these descriptions, one realizes that cashew nut shells are not a waste, but they are rather a good source of a potential liquid, CNSL, which is a promising renewable resource for synthesizing various industrial chemicals.

腰果壳是腰果加工厂生产的农业废料，含有约30–35 wt％的油，称为腰果壳液（CNSL）。该液体是四种可能的化合物的混合物，分别是腰果酸，腰果酚，腰果酚和2-甲基腰果酚。已经开发了各种反应以将腰果壳液的成分转化为工业上重要的化学品，并且本文描述了这些材料。在转化中采用的此类反应包括转移氢化反应，异构化反应，复分解反应，羰基化反应，聚合反应，异构化复分解反应和异构化羰基化反应。通过这些描述，人们意识到腰果壳不是浪费，而只是潜在液体CNSL的良好来源，