A comparative study of the collective polarizability anisotropy dynamics of benzene, 1,3,5-trifluorobenzene, and hexafluorobenzene was carried out by using optical heterodyne-detected Raman-induced Kerr effect spectroscopy (OHD-RIKES) with 45 fs laser pulses. The OHD-RIKES data were analyzed by using a modeldependent approach and a Fourier transform approach, which yields a spectral density for the liquid. From an analysis of the long-time tails, collective reorientation times of 2.45 ( 0.06, 9.05 ( 0.10, and 13.5 ( 0.1 ps were obtained respectively for C 6 H 6 , 1,3,5-C 6 F 3 H 3 , and C 6 F 6 . The spectral densities are narrower for 1,3,5-C 6 F 3 H 3 and C 6 F 6 than for C 6 H 6 by roughly a factor of 2. Information about the intermolecular vibrational modes of the liquid is contained in the reduced spectral density which is obtained by subtracting the tailmatched diffusive reorientational response from the OHD-RIKES data. In the case of C 6 H 6 and C 6 F 6 , the intermolecular spectral density can be decomposed into at least two broad overlapping bands. In contrast, the intermolecular spectral density for 1,3,5-C 6 F 3 H 3 is characterized by a single band. These spectra are rationalized in terms of the librational dynamics of perpendicular dimers in liquid C 6 H 6 and C 6 F 6 and parallel dimers in liquid 1,3,5-C 6 F 3 H 3 .