21 Feb
Acetonitrile shortage
Acetonitrile is an organic solvent that is widely used in organic synthesis and HPLC (high performance liquid chromatography). Because it is one of the few solvents that is practically UV-transparent (does not absorb UV light), it is an excellent solvent for liquid chromatography where the detection is done with UV absorbance.A major manufacturer of acetonitrile was damaged when hurricane Ike hit Texas. Also apparently China shutdown their production for the 2008 Olympics. As a result, the price is more than doubled at the moment (see the VWR quote below).
The price used to be ~$50-$70 for a 4L bottle if I remember correctly.
It is manufactured as a by-product from production of plastics. If you come with a better way to make acetonitrile now, you just might make a big buck! And many chemistry labs would be grateful to you.
Printer Friendly
March 10th, 2009 at 2:57 am
yes, acetonitrile can be made by dehydration of acetamide using a dehydrating agent.
March 10th, 2009 at 4:26 am
Right. That is a synthetically useful method, but the questions are “can you do it at an industrial scale?” and “would it produce CH3CN cheaper than the stuff VWR sells?”
April 9th, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Present price structure is ripe to consider industrial scale production. Amide can be efficiently made by use of proper catalyst in the known methods. Dehydration can be effected in small heated column, the crude obtained can be purified by fractional dist. A model to produce up to 100-200 Kg/day will be very economical.
April 10th, 2009 at 6:19 am
ARUN KAULGUD,
Thanks for your insight.
IMHO, your proposal still would cost much more than the current crazy price. First of all, it’s multi-step synthesis and that’s a big no-no for something that’s supposed to be cheap, like solvents. The way they were able to produce it so cheaply ($40/gallon for HPLC grade) was that CH3CN was just a by-product of plastic production. So there was no real “synthesis” step involved, just purification by dist.
November 29th, 2009 at 9:56 am
Good afternoon. A physicist is an atom’s way of knowing about atoms.
I am from Republic and learning to read in English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: “See never deactivate also created prominently, blackjack.”
THX :o, Kabibe.