Abstract. ClsH23FO2.½CH3OH, triclinic, P1, a = 7.367 (1), b= 9.363 (6), c = 12.531 (1) A,, a= 89.31 (3), /? = 93.38 (1), y = 109.62 (3) ° , V = 812.8/k 3, Z = 2. The structure was solved by direct methods and refined by block-diagonal least squares to an R factor of 6.2% for 3043 observed reflections. The general features of the steroid are similar to those of other estratriene analogs. Molecules in the crystal are linked together in a head-to-tail fashion between the O at C(3) and at C (17), and sideways between the hydroxyls of the solvent and the steroid.Introduction. Tumor inhibitory effects on estrogen administration have been observed in breast and prostatic cancers and attempts have been made to obtain modified steroidal estrogens that will be useful in cancer chemotherapy. In this connection it is seen that in contrast to the biologically inactive bromo analog, 4-fluoroestratrienediol (4FE2) is a very highly active estrogen. The present crystallographic study of the structure and conformation of 4FE2 was undertaken to establish the stereochemical reason, if any, for the striking difference in biological activity of the two analogs.A crystal of about 1.3 × 0.8 × 0.3 mm crystallized from benzene was used to collect the diffraction data. The crystals are triclinic with space group P I. Lattice parameters were refined by a least-squares fit to a set of 24 measured reflections in a 0 range 10-34 ° (Cu Ka). Three-dimensional data were collected on an Enraf-Nonius CAD-4 automated diffractometer using Ni-filtered Cu Kct radiation by o.~--20 scans within the Cu sphere of 20 to 150 °. The measured intensities were converted to structure amplitudes in the usual manner, and corrected for Lorentz, polarization, and absorption effects. There were 3436 unique reflections measured, of which 3043 had intensities greater than 2o(1) and were used in the determination and refinement of the structure.