Valorisation of cashew nut shell liquid phenolics in the synthesis of UV absorbers

With current concerns over the use of fossil resources for chemical synthesis of functional molecules and the effect of current UV absorbers in sunscreens have on the ecosystem, we describe a xylochemical synthesis of different classes of aromatic UV absorbers utilizing cashew nut shell liquid as a non-edible bio-renewable carbon source. Hydroxybenzophenones, xanthones, triazines, and flavones were synthesized starting from cardanol or anacardic acid. Several compounds exhibited favorable UVA and UVB absorption characteristics