Avariety of functionalizedt riarylmethane and 1,1diarylalkane derivatives were prepared via at ransition-metalfree,one-pot and two-step procedure,involving the reaction of various benzal diacetates with organozinc reagents.Asequential cross-coupling is enabled by changing the solvent from THF to toluene,a nd at wo-step S N 1-type mechanism was proposed and evidenced by experimental studies.The synthetic utility of the method is further demonstrated by the synthesis of several biologically relevant molecules,s uch as an anti-tuberculosis agent, an anti-breast cancer agent, ap recursor of as phingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulator,a nd aFLAP inhibitor. Scheme 1. Typical methods for the synthesis of triarylmethanes and 1,1-diarylalkanes.