The lithium salt of 2,6-difluoro-2'-sulfobenzophenone was conveniently synthesized in one-pot by reacting 2,6-difluorophenyllithium with 2-sulfobenzoic acid cyclic anhydride in THF at -70 degrees C whereafter the product crystallized out of solution. A poly(arylene ether) and a poly(arylene sulfide) were prepared by polycondensation reactions to demonstrate the reactivity and efficacy of this new monomer to produce sulfonated high-molecular weight aromatic polymers for fuel cell proton-exchange membranes. This work demonstrated that organolithium chemistry may offer versatile and straightforward pathways to new functional monomers with fluorine atoms activated for nucleophilic aromatic substitution reactions.