Acetonitrile Shortage

[dtatham]

Acetonitrile is a byproduct of enamel production. With the decline in the automotive industry, companies are having to deliberately produce it. I've switched a lot of my methods to methanol. The downside is out gassing with a low pressure gradient (pressure spikes). If you premix the mobile phase and run isocratic you won't have a problem. If you're running a gradient (i.e. 20 to 70%), mix solvent A at 20% and use MeOH for solvent B. Most of the out gassing happens with the first 10% of the mix. Out gassing is especially bad if you are using buffers with TEA, TFA, or DCA.
On the plus side, after as few weeks the methanol will clean out a lot of residue left by impurities in the ACN. Don't be surprised to see a sudden pressure drop (~300psi) in your system as the plaque works it's way out.

[Bruce Hamilton]

Acetonitrile is a byproduct of enamel production. With the decline in the automotive industry, companies are having to deliberately produce it. I've switched a lot of my methods to methanol.
... On the plus side, after as few weeks the methanol will clean out a lot of residue left by impurities in the ACN. Don't be surprised to see a sudden pressure drop (~300psi) in your system as the plaque works it's way out.

Most Acetonitrile is a byproduct of acrylonitrile production, which itself usually made by the SOHIO process ( propylene ammoxidation ). Acrylonitrile is currently ( starting Feb 2009 ) undergoing a resurgence in demand, resulting in higher bulk prices. Consequently, it's quite likely that acetonitrile production will also increase during this year.

The end use of acrylonitrile is not enamel paint ( which, these days, is defined as any paint that dries with a hard skin ).
From...
http://www.yarnsandfibers.com/textile-r ... itrile.htm
The major end uses of acrylonitrile ( ACN ) are:
- Acrylic textile fibers for use in apparel, blankets, carpeting, upholstery, and industrial applications. (Accounts for over 52% of global ACN consumption)
- ABS/SAN resins production where ACN is a co-monomer. (Accounts for 29%)
- Adiponitrile which is a nylon-66 intermediate. (Accounts for 9%)
- Nitrile rubbers and acrylamide. (Accounts for 7%).

There are now also several bespoke manufacturers of acetonitrile coming into the market ( one chemical web site lists over 35 suppliers prepared to ship 200L, isotainers ( 1000L ) and larger tanks of product worldwide, some of which was claimed to be HPLC grades ). Obviously, bulk prices were a fraction of what I currently pay for decanted product.

I earnestly encourage all other acetonitrile users to switch to methanol or other equivalent solvents ASAP. That means the demand will decrease, and market forces will greatly reduce the acetonitrile price to me, and availability will be assured.

I'd be very surprised if acetonitrile leaves a plaque ( other than a trace deposit on some pump check valves ) that is measurable as a pressure drop. If I found such an effect, I would be wanting to talk to the supplier of the acetonitrile.

Bruce Hamilton

[naseema]

check out this site for tips on how to save solvent in the lab...

http://www.agilent.com/chem/savesolventnow

[darenf]

Re: ACN shortage and supply. It seems there's a different story from every lab you speak to...

Bottom line is we have been able to source an excellent stock of premium HPLC grade ACN (99.97%; 0.003% water; transmissive at 190nm) and we can deliver immediately in Australia and New Zealand. We would also be delighted to accommodate global orders. We are a privately owned, South Australian Company (www.optigenscientific.com).

We are definitely not exhibiting favouritism based on volume requirements and are ready to help you today regardless of your needs for this and indeed many other laboratory products.

Look forward to your call & best regards.

[dblux_]

Seems that ACN crisis is over, at least in Poland.
Today my vendor phoned me with this information.
They accept orders for gradient grade ACN with deliveries in May.
I'm curious whether situation changed in other countries.

[Consumer Products Guy]

Seems that ACN crisis is over, at least in Poland.
Today my vendor phoned me with this information.
They accept orders for gradient grade ACN with deliveries in May.
I'm curious whether situation changed in other countries.

Here in U.S. most suppliers have ACN HPLC in stock now, and have even taken it off allocation. But they are asking a lot of dollars for it, usually over $1000 USD per case of 4 liter bottles. At least that should stop the hoarding that apparently took place in late 2008 making the shortage significantly more acute.

CPG

[dblux_]

Here in U.S. most suppliers have ACN HPLC in stock now, and have even taken it off allocation. But they are asking a lot of dollars for it, usually over $1000 USD per case of 4 liter bottles.

1000USD

I've asked her about the price and was told that it has raised only 30% compared to last year. Total price is ca. 95USD for 4 L bottle (recalculated, I order 2,5 L bottles).

[sball]

There seems to more acetonitrile around in the UK too. Our supplier, Fisher, has increased the amount that we are allowed to order to 80% of our usual quantity (from 30%). The price has doubled though I believe!

They did tell me, however, that there is still a chance that the problem is not yet over and they reserve the right to reduce the supply quota at any time.

Best Regards,

Steve.

[Chris]

Everything is gravy now. Lets get back to developing methods with everybodies favourite solvent again

[Csaba]

Hi,

In Sweden, anyone can get acn for about $260/2.5L bottle. That is 6-7 times more expensive than 9 months ago. You don’t waste acn at that price.

In our lab, we have as much acn as we need and some spare bottles in the stores.... The shortage has probably become more severe (and prices higher) because many have acted like us.

On the other hand, the labs I know of has switched from 4.6 mm columns to 3 and even 2 mm columns. Also MeOH is now sometimes used. If many labs have acted like us, the acn consumption should diminish significantly in the near future, and so will the acn price.

[germangarcia]

Hello, my name is German.
In my country a lot of manager of quality and research are working in this problematic situation.
We are writing an article for the official regulatory agency,
about how validate the analytical technics, to pass the problem derived of low acetonitrile disponibility in our country.
The idea is:
To assay and UC, only re-validate these points such as
- Accuracy
- Linearity of accuracy
- Specificity
- All items must pass the system suitability, similar to the original method.
But the problem is the impurities, we are thing only study:
- Linearity
- Lc & LD.
What are we suggest about that? Thanks and sorry for my english
Bye

Ph German Garcia
Quality and Research Manager
Paylos Laboratories SRL

[germangarcia]

Hello, my name is German.
In my country a lot of manager of quality and research are working in this problematic situation.
We are writing an article for the official regulatory agency,
about how validate the analytical technics, to pass the problem derived of low acetonitrile disponibility in our country.
The idea is:
To assay and UC, only re-validate these points such as
- Accuracy
- Linearity of accuracy
- Specificity
- All items must pass the system suitability, similar to the original method.
But the problem is the impurities, we are thing only study:
- Linearity
- Lc & LD.
What are we suggest about that? Thanks and sorry for my english
Bye

Ph German Garcia
Quality and Research Manager
Paylos Laboratories SRL

[ESP_Chemicals]

Hi,

We can supply ACN - EMD OmniSolv AX0142-1 HPLC Gradient grade in 4 X 4 L cases. List from EMD' site is $1280.96.

We sell it for about 30% off list at $899.00. No price gouging here!

Just type Acetonitrile in Google and you should find our ad or simply call us at 888-522-3472.

Best regards.
ESP Chemicals Inc.

[jorry]

I think the acetonitrile shortage crisis is over.
Now in China market acetonitrile is in abundant supply.

http://harvestchem.iblogger.org

[orcicdejan]

You can try to replace it with MeOH. Won't always work, and your chromatograms won't be perfectly the same, but it might work. Replace all your %ACN with %MeOH, as calculated from isoelutropic strength tables (you can use the equation: %MeOH ≈ -0.003876 %ACN^2 + 1.372 %ACN + 1.084, I've got it by fitting the data from the table). Chromatograms are not identical, but it's a good starting point.