The peculiarities and the progress in research of production and application of acetoin were described. The chemical synthesis process and the micro-organism fermentation method were also compared.

• 摘要简述了3-羟基丁酮的性质以及生产应用方面的研究进展，并对化学合成法与生物发酵法生产3-羟基丁酮的工艺方法进行了比较。