Recent advances in cardanol chemistry in a nutshell: from a nut to nanomaterials.

This tutorial review could serve as an introduction of cardanol into the world of soft nanomaterials; it is a biobased lipid-mixture obtained from the plant Anacardium occidentale L. Cardanol is a renewable raw material derived from a byproduct of cashew nut processing industry: Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL). Cardanol is a rich mixture of non-isoprenoic phenolic compounds that is a valuable raw material for generating a variety of soft nanomaterials such as nanotubes, nanofibers, gels and surfactants.