Product Name: High Purity Acetonitrile

Synonyms: Ethyl Nitrile; Cyanomethane, Methyl Cyanide

CAS Number: 75-05-8
Manufacturer/Suppli Purification Technologies, Inc. (PTI)
er: 67 Winthrop Rd., Chester, CT 06412
Address: 860-526-7801 (Mon-Fri, 8:30 am to 5:00 pm)
General Assistance: 860-526-7801 (Calls made all hours other than "General Assistance" will be forwarded to key
Emergency personnel)
Number:

2. Composition/Information on Ingredients
Ingredient CAS # Weight %
Acetonitrile 75-05-8 99.9%
Acrylonitrile 107-13-1 Trace
Ethyl Cyanide Trace
107-12-0
(See Section 8 for Exposure Limits)
3. Hazard Identification

Emergency Overview: Warning! Flammable liquid & vapor. May be harmful if absorbed through the skin.
May be irritating m the skin, eyes, and respiratory tract. May cause adverse central nervous system effects.
Toxic effects - if any - may be delayed (see “Special Toxic Effects” page 2).
Potential Health Effects:
Eye Contact: Direct contact may cause irritation, redness, tearing or blurred vision.

Skin Contact: May cause irritation and inflammation. Absorption from skin contact may cause symptoms
similar to those listed under 'Ingestion'.
Inhalation: May cause respiratory tract irritation and pulmonary edema. Exposure may cause symptoms
similar to those listed under 'Ingestion'. Prolonged and repeated inhalation may cause liver, kidney and lung
damage.
Ingestion: Symptoms may include irritation, nausea and vomiting. May cause harmful central nervous
system effects. Effects may include excitation, euphoria, headache, dizziness, drowsiness, blurred vision,
fatigue, tremors, convulsions, loss of consciousness, coma, and respiratory arrest. Other effects may
include rapid breathing and heartbeat, low blood pressure and cyanosis. Overexposure may cause death.
Special Toxic Effects: Older literature has reported toxicity similar to that of cyanide poisoning. Several
hours may elapse between exposure and initiation of symptoms, due to a possible slow release of cyanide.
However in reporting the findings of experiments conducted on acetonitrile, the U.S. National Toxicology
Program (NTP) concluded that long-term exposure to maximum doses produced no evidence of
carcinogenic activity in male mice, female mice or female rats. Findings in male rats exposed to the
maximum dose were considered to be suggestive of adverse liver changes. While these changes were
within or only marginally greater than historic, at ranges for untreated animals these changes were
considered an adequate basis for clarifying the male rat findings as equivocal. Similar findings were not
observed in male rats exposed at less than maximum doses or in female rats. Also reported by National
Toxicology Program was the result of experiments investigating the potential of acetonitrile to induce
developmental abnormalities in the fetuses of exposed pregnant rats. No adverse effects were noted on
fetuses at doses up to and exceeding the maximum which could be tolerated by the pregnant dams. These
findings confirm earlier conclusion of the World Health Organization acetonitrile does not pose a special
hazard to developing fetuses. Persons with pre-existing skin and respiratory disorders may be more
susceptible to the effects of this material.
Note that in the 1990’s the DOT (US Department of Transportation) removed the requirement that
Acetonitrile be labeled as a poison, a move that has been extended to international shipments. The EPA
(US Environmental Protection Agency) has raised the RQ (the quantity that would mandate reporting a spill
of that material to the government) to 5,000 pounds/2270 kilograms. This is not being added here to
diminish the hazard of this material, but rather to show that there is in fact contradictory data on the toxicity
in the open literature.