The title compound, C(12)H(8)N(2)O(5), was obtained by the reaction of 1-chloro-2,4-dinitro-benzene and phenol in the presence of potassium carbonate. The nitro-substituted benzene ring lies on a mirror plane, with one NO(2) group in the same plane and the other disordered across this plane. The phenoxy-benzene unit is placed perpendicular to this mirror, resulting in an exact orthogonal relationship between the phenyl and benzene rings in the mol-ecule. The crystal packing exhibits no significantly short inter-molecular contacts.