New Spectrophotometric Method for The Determination of Cardanol

Abstract

Cardanol, a phenolic compound is found in cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL) a by-product of cashew industry. It holds considerable promise because of its large availability in tropical areas, low cost, biodegradability and structural characteristics. The method is based on the reaction of cardanol with folin ciocalteu (FC), an electrophilic coupling agent in presence of iron (III) in mild hydrochloric acid medium. The bluish – green complex shows maximum absorbance at 660 nm. The colour complex can be extracted into chloroform. The methods obey Beer’s law. As many as 10 anions and cations do not interfere. The methods have good reproducibility and can be satisfactorily applied to the determination of cardanol in various turmeric samples.