This colorless 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.
Acetonitrile is used mainly as a solvent in the purification of butadiene in refineries. Acetonitrile plays a significant role as the dominant solvent used in the manufacture of DNA oligonucleotides from monomers.