Bis(4-fluorophenyl)methanol (CAS number 365-24-2), also referred to as 4,4'-difluorobenzhydrol, is a diphenyl methanol building block with two fluorine atoms at the para-position. Bis(4-fluorophenyl)methanol is an important building block for synthesizing antipsychotic drug such as fluspirilene, pimozide and penfluridol. Bis(4-fluorophenyl)methanol is also used in the total synthesis of Tunicamycin V, a homologous nucleoside antibiotic.
Bis(4-fluorophenyl)methanol is used to synthesize aromatic polyethers through nucleophilic aromatic substitution. The free hydroxy groups can be further functionalized for graft polymer with 'grafting to' method.