Crystallographic and spectroscopic characterization of racemic Mosher's Acid

The title compound, C10H9F3O3, represents the structure of racemic Mosher's Acid (systematic name: 3,3,3-tri­fluoro-2-meth­oxy-2-phenyl­propanoic acid), a carb­oxy­lic acid that when resolved can be employed as a chiral derivatizing agent. The compound contains a carb­oxy­lic acid group, a meth­oxy group and a tri­fluoro­methyl substituent on an asymmetric benzylic carbon atom. The two independent mol­ecules in the asymmetric unit form a non-centrosymmetric homochiral dimer via inter­molecularly hydrogen-bonded head-to-tail dimers with graph-set notation R22(8) and donor–acceptor hydrogen-bonding distances of 2.6616 (13) and 2.6801 (13) Å.