A finite difference scheme for the one-dimensional space fractional diffusion equation is presented and analysed. The scheme is constructed by modifying the shifted Grünwald approximation to the spatial fractional derivative and using an asymmetric discretisation technique. By calculating the unknowns in differential nodal point sequences at the odd and even time levels, the discrete solution of the scheme can be obtained explicitly. We prove that the scheme is uniformly stable. The error between the discrete solution and the analytical solution in the discrete l2 norm is optimal in some cases. Numerical results for several examples are consistent with the theoretical analysis.
