Acetonitrile is utilised as a polar aprotic solvent in organic synthesis, and in the purification of butadiene.
It is used in all the analytical laboratories as a major component of mobile phase in High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) and in Liquid Chromatography - Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS).
It is used for the extraction of fatty acids, spinning fibres and casting and moulding of plastic materials.
Aqueous two-phase systems based on acetonitrile and carbohydrates play an important character in the extraction and purification of biomolecules called vanillins.
It acts as a stabilizer for the chlorinated solvents, and finds use in the production of DNA oligonucleotides.