We report the first spectroscopic observation of jet-cooled 2,5-difluorobenzyl radical produced from 2,5-difluorotoluene seeded in a large amount of inert carrier gas He and vibronically excited in a corona excited supersonic expansion using a pinhole-type glass nozzle. The visible vibronic emission spectrum of the jet-cooled 2,5-difluorobenzyl radical recorded with a long path monochromator was analyzed to obtain an accurate measurement of the electronic transition between the D-1 and D-0 electronic states. The vibrational mode frequencies in the ground electronic state were determined by comparison with those of 2,5-difluorotoluene as well as those from an ab initio calculation. (c) 2008 Elsevier B. V. All rights reserved.