Acetone is produced and processed in the body through normal metabolic processes. It is usually found in blood and urine. People with diabetic ketoacidosis produce it in large amounts. A ketogenic diet that increases ketone bodies (acetone, beta-hydroxybutyrate, and acetoacetate) in the blood is used to combat seizures in infants and children with refractory epilepsy.

Acetone was first produced by Andreas Libavius in 1606 by distilling lead(II) acetate.

In 1832, the French chemist Jean-Baptiste Dumas and the German chemist Justus von Liebig determined the empirical formula for acetone[24][25] In 1833, the French chemist Antoine Bussy added The suffix -one is used to name acetone. [26] By 1852, the British chemist Alexander William Williamson realized that acetone was a methylacetyl group;[27] the following year, the French chemist Charles Frédéric Gerhardt (Charles Frédéric Gerhardt) agrees. [28] In 1865, German chemist August Kekule published the modern structural formula of acetone[29][30] Johann Josef Loschmidt (Johann Josef Loschmidt) proposed the structure of acetone in 1861, [31] But his privately published pamphlets received little attention. During World War I, Chaim Weizmann developed a process for the industrial production of acetone (Weizmann process).

Acetone is produced directly or indirectly from propylene. Approximately 83% of acetone is produced by the cumene process;[19] therefore, acetone production is closely related to phenol production. In the cumene process, benzene is alkylated with propylene to produce cumene, which is oxidized by air to produce phenol and acetone。