Maximum variance unimodal distributions

A new sufficient condition for the variance of a unimodal distribution in ?a, b? to have the least upper bound $\text{(b ? a)}{}^2\text{12}$ is derived. This condition is more general than the condition found by Jacobson (1969). A new proof that the least upper bound for all unimodal distributions in ?a, b? is $\text{(b ? a)}{}^2\text{9}$ is also given. These results are used to construct a new estimator of the variance of such distributions.