A method for the synthesis of the antibiotic, chloramphenicol, has been modified and extended to the preparation of a compound containing a trifluoromethyl group, instead of a nitro group, in the para position of the phenyl ring. An epimerization encountered during one of the alternate preparations of this compound, tkreo-2-dichloroacetamido-1-~- trifluoromethyl-phenyl-1, 3-propanediol (IX), relates it, and several others prepared here, ...