acetonitril Chem.
(ˌæsɪtəʊˈnaɪtrɪl)
[f. aceto- + nitril.]
An alcoholic cyanide or hydrocyanic ether; the nitrogen compound, or nitril, of the acetic series, C2H3N, called also ethenyl nitril, and, as the cyanide of the methyl series, methyl cyanide CH3.CN.
| 1869 Roscoe Elem. Chem. 320. 1877 Fownes Man. Chem. II. 92 The bodies obtained by these two processes are oily liquids..Methyl cyanide, ethenyl-nitril, or acetonitril, boils at 77°. |