A convenient and sustainable three-step synthesis of the tyrosinase inhibitor 2-hydroxy-6-tridecylbenzoic acid was developed that starts directly from the anacardic acid component of natural cashew nutshell liquid (CNSL). Natural CNSL contains 60-70% of anacardic acid as a mixture of several double bond isomers. The anacardic acid component was converted into a uniform starting material by ethenolysis