Diphenylmethanol is the

organic compound In chemistry, organic compounds are generally any chemical compounds that contain carbon-hydrogen or carbon-carbon bonds. Due to carbon's ability to catenate (form chains with other carbon atoms), millions of organic compounds are known. T ...

with the formula (C₆H₅)₂CHOH. Also known as benzhydrol, it is a white solid and the parent member of a large class of diaryl alcohols.

Preparation

Diphenylmethanol may be prepared by a

Grignard reaction The Grignard reaction () is an organometallic chemical reaction in which alkyl, allyl, vinyl, or aryl-magnesium halides (Grignard reagent) is added to a carbonyl group in an aldehyde or ketone. This reaction is important for the formation of ...

between phenylmagnesium bromide and benzaldehyde. An alternative method involves reducing

benzophenone Benzophenone is the organic compound with the formula (C6H5)2CO, generally abbreviated Ph2CO. It is a white solid that is soluble in organic solvents. Benzophenone is a widely used building block in organic chemistry, being the parent diarylket ...

with

sodium borohydride Sodium borohydride, also known as sodium tetrahydridoborate and sodium tetrahydroborate, is an inorganic compound with the formula Na BH4. This white solid, usually encountered as an aqueous basic solution, is a reducing agent that finds applica ...

or with

zinc Zinc is a chemical element with the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. Zinc is a slightly brittle metal at room temperature and has a shiny-greyish appearance when oxidation is removed. It is the first element in group 12 (IIB) of the periodi ...

dust or with sodium amalgam and water.

Uses and safety

It has uses in

perfume Perfume (, ; french: parfum) is a mixture of fragrant essential oils or aroma compounds (fragrances), fixatives and solvents, usually in liquid form, used to give the human body, animals, food, objects, and living-spaces an agreeable scent. Th ...

and

pharmaceutical A medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy (pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the medical field an ...

manufacture. In perfumery it is used as a fixative. In pharmaceutical manufacture it is used in the synthesis of

antihistamines Antihistamines are drugs which treat allergic rhinitis, common cold, influenza, and other allergies. Typically, people take antihistamines as an inexpensive, generic (not patented) drug that can be bought without a prescription and provides re ...

/ antiallergenic agents and

antihypertensive Antihypertensives are a class of drugs that are used to treat hypertension (high blood pressure). Antihypertensive therapy seeks to prevent the complications of high blood pressure, such as stroke and myocardial infarction. Evidence suggests tha ...

agents . It is used in the synthesis of Modafinil{{Cite patent, country=EP, number=1583739, title=Method for preparing methyl 2-diphenylmethylsulfinylacetate, pubdate=2005-10-12 , assign=Organisation de Synthese Mondi , inventor1-last=Rose , inventor1-first=Sebastien , inventor2-last=Klein , inventor2-first=Dominique and the

benzhydryl The benzhydryl compounds are a group of organic compounds whose parent structures include diphenylmethane (which is two benzene rings connected by a single methane), with any number of attached substituents, including bridges. This group typic ...

group is present in the structure of many histamine H1 antagonists like diphenylhydramine. Benzhydrol is also used in the production of

agrochemicals An agrochemical or agrichemical, a contraction of ''agricultural chemical'', is a chemical product used in industrial agriculture. Agrichemical refers to biocides (pesticides including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and nematicides) and sy ...

as well as other organic compounds and as a terminating group in

polymerization In polymer chemistry, polymerization (American English), or polymerisation (British English), is a process of reacting monomer molecules together in a chemical reaction to form polymer chains or three-dimensional networks. There are many fo ...

s. Diphenylmethanol is an irritant to the eyes, skin and respiratory system.

References

Secondary alcohols Benzhydryl compounds