Acetonitrile can be used as a solvent in:
- The solid-phase peptide synthesis.
- The sialylation reactions.
- The synthesis of copper nanoparticles by reduction of copper nitrate salt using NaBH4. During the preparation, ACN acts as a protecting solvent, which prevents the oxidation of nanoparticles.
- The preparation of diaryl selenides by Cu-catalyzed coupling reaction between aryl iodides and diphenyl diselenide. In this process, ACN also functions as a ligand for the copper catalyst to increase its catalytic activity.