(E)-1,2-Bis(4-fluoro­phen­yl)ethane-1,2-dione

The title compound, C(14)H(8)F(2)O(2), is a substituted benzil with an s-trans conformation of the dicarbonyl unit. This conformation is also shown by the O—C—C—O torsion angle of −110.65 (12)°. An unusual feature of the structure is the length, 1.536 (2) Å, of the central C—C bond connecting the carbonyl units, which is significantly longer than a normal Csp (2)—Csp (2) single bond. This is probably the result of decreasing the unfavourable vicinal dipole–dipole inter­actions by increasing the distance between the two electronegative O atoms [O⋯O = 3.1867 (12) Å] and allowing orbital overlap of the dione with the π system of the benzene rings. The dihedral angle between the aromatic rings is 64.74 (5)°. In the crystal structure, neighbouring mol­ecules are linked together by weak inter­molecular C—H⋯O (× 2) hydrogen bonds. In addition, the crystal structure is further stabilized by inter­molecular π–π inter­actions with centroid–centroid distances in the range 3.6416 (6)–3.7150 (7) Å.