Considerable interest is attached to the remarkable series of hydrocarbons obtained by Gomberg (Ber., 1900, 33, p. 3150, et seq.) by acting on triphenylmethane chloride (from triphenylmethane carbinol and phosphorus pentachloride, or from carbon tetrachloride and benzene in the presence of aluminium chloride) and its homologues with zinc, silver or mercury.
It is reduced by sodium amalgam to benzhydrol or diphenyl carbinol C 6 H 5 [[Choh C 6 H]] 5; a stronger reducing agent, such as hydriodic acid in the presence of amorphous phosphorus converts it into diphenylmethane (C6H5)2.