Acetonitrile - Environmental Health Criteria 154

Acetonitrile (CH3CN) is a by-product of acrylonitrile manufacture. It may also be formed by the combustion of wood and vegetation. It is a liquid with an ether-like odour. Acetonitrile is a volatile, highly polar solvent used to extract fatty acids and animal and vegetable oils. It is used in the petrochemical industry in extractive distillation based on its selective miscibility with organic compounds. It is used as a solvent for spinning synthetic fibres and in casting and moulding plastics. In laboratories, it is widely used in high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) analysis and as a solvent for DNA synthesis and peptide sequencing.