Acetone advantages/drawbacks

One advantage of ELSD is that a wide range of solvents can be used, including acetone and chloroform which are not useful with UV detection. One drawback is that the solvent must be significantly more volatile than the analytes thus the use of nonvolatile buffers should be strictly avoided. Only high-quality HPLC solvents with minimum particulates should be used. 

The traditional acetone cyanohydrin (ACH) process is the most widely used in Europe and North America, while other processes are more often used in Asia. In the ACH process (Figure 2.63), acetone and hydrogen cyanide react to yield acetone cyanohydrin the latter is then reacted with an excess of concentrated sulfuric add to form methacrylamide sulfate. In a later stage, methacrylamide is treated with excess aqueous methanol the amide is hydrolyzed and esterified, with formation of a mixture of methyl methacrylate and methacrylic acid. The ACH process offers economical advantages, especially in Europe, where large plants are in use - most of them have been in operation for decades. The process also suffers from drawbacks that have been the driving forces for the development of alternative technologies. 

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