Acetonitrile

Acetonitrile is the chemical compound with the formula CH
3CN. 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.

In the laboratory, it is used as a medium-polarity solvent that is miscible with water and a range of organic solvents, but not saturated hydrocarbons. It has a convenient liquid range and a high dielectric constant of 38.8. With a dipole moment of 3.92 D, acetonitrile dissolves a wide range of ionic and nonpolar compounds and is useful as a mobile phase in HPLC and LC-MS. The N-C-C skeleton is linear with a short C-N distance of 1.16 Å.

Acetonitrile was first prepared in 1847 by the French chemist Jean-Baptiste Dumas.

Applications

Acetonitrile is used mainly as a solvent in the purification of butadiene in refineries.

ABCN

1,1'-Azobis(cyclohexanecarbonitrile) or ACCN is a radical initiator. The molecular formula is NCC₆H₁₀N=NC₆H₁₀CN. It is classified as highly flammable and an irritant.

ACCN has a 10 hr half life in toluene at 88 °C.

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ACCN1

Amiloride-sensitive cation channel 1, neuronal is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ACCN1 gene. It is also known as an acid-sensing ion channel, ASIC2.

Function

This gene encodes a member of the degenerin/epithelial sodium channel (DEG/ENaC) superfamily. The members of this family are amiloride-sensitive sodium channels that contain intracellular N and C termini, 2 hydrophobic transmembrane regions, and a large extracellular loop, which has many cysteine residues with conserved spacing. The member encoded by this gene may play a role in neurotransmission. In addition, a heteromeric association between this member and ACCN3 (variant 1) has been observed to co-assemble into proton-gated channels sensitive to gadolinium. Alternative splicing has been observed at this locus and two variants, encoding distinct isoforms, have been identified.

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Further reading