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acetonitrile
Sign in to saveAlso known as cyanomethane, ethyl nitrile, methyl cyanide, ACN, ethanenitrile, methanecarbonitrile
Acetonitrile, often abbreviated MeCN (methyl cyanide), is the chemical compound with the formula and structure . This colourless liquid is the simplest organic nitrile (hydrogen cyanide is a simpler nitrile, but the cyanide anion is not classed as organic). It is produced mainly as a byproduct of acrylonitrile manufacture. It is used as a polar aprotic solvent in organic synthesis and in the purification of butadiene. The skeleton is linear with a short distance of .
Chemical data
- Formula
- C2H3N
- Molecular weight
- 41.05 g/mol
- IUPAC name
- acetonitrile
- SMILES
- CC#N
- InChIKey
- WEVYAHXRMPXWCK-UHFFFAOYSA-N
- XLogP
- 0
- Polar surface area
- 23.8 Ų
- H-bond donors
- 0
- H-bond acceptors
- 1
- Formal charge
- 0
via PubChem
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Encyclopedic overview
9 sectionsContents
- Applications
- Organic synthesis
- As an electron pair donor
- Production
- Safety
- Toxicity
- Metabolism and excretion
- See also
- References
Acetonitrile, often abbreviated MeCN (methyl cyanide), is the chemical compound with the formula and structure . This colourless liquid is the simplest organic nitrile (hydrogen cyanide is a simpler nitrile, but the cyanide anion is not classed as organic). It is produced mainly as a byproduct of acrylonitrile manufacture. It is used as a polar aprotic solvent in organic synthesis and in the purification of butadiene. The skeleton is linear with a short distance of .
Acetonitrile was first prepared in 1847 by the French chemist Jean-Baptiste Dumas.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “acetonitrile” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.