Diphenylmethane is an organic compound with the formula (C6H5)2CH2 (often abbreviated CH2Ph2).

The compound consists of methane wherein two hydrogen atoms are replaced by two phenyl groups.

Diphenylmethane is a common skeleton in organic chemistry.

It is prepared by the Friedel–Crafts alkylation of benzyl chloride with benzene in the presence of a Lewis acid such as aluminium chloride:[2] The methylene group in diphenylmethane is mildly acidic with a pKa of 32.2, and so can be deprotonated with sodium amide.

[5] This is well below the published bond dissociation energies for comparable C–H bonds in propane, where BDE((CH3)2CH–H)=98.6 kcal mol−1, and toluene, where BDE(C6H5CH2–H)=89.7 kcal mol−1.