In order to develop efficient chiral derivatizing agents (CDAs) which can be obtained readily in optically active form, synthetic studies of α-cyano-α-fluorophenylacetic acid (CFPA) analogs, 3a-e and CFNA (14a), were made. Carboxylation of 6a-e obtained from 4a-e gave 3a-e in low yield. Alternatively, benzyl cyanides 5b-e were converted successfully to the esters 7b-e, 8b-e, and 9b-e, which were fluorinated with FClO3 to produce the fluoro esters 10b-e, 11b-e, and 12b-d, in good yields. However, the attempted ester cleavage of these compounds did not give 3b-e. Carboxyl group introduction into 5e afforded 13, and fluorination with either F2 or FClO3 gave complex mixtures.Carboxylation of the naphthyl analog 16 obtained from 15 did not give 14a. However, fluorination of 18 derived from 17 proceeded readily to give 19, which was hydrolyzed to produce 14a. Optically active (-)-14a was obtained through enzymatic hydrolysis. The racemic acid 14a was condensed with three representative chiral nucleophiles to give 14b-d. From the 1H- and 19F-NMR spectra of these derivatives, it was concluded that CFNA (14a) is potentially a much better CDA than the well known α-methoxy-α-(trifluoromethyl)phenylacetic acid (MTPA).