The Grignard reaction of 4-(trifluoromethyl)benzaldehyde (I) with ethylmagnesium bromide in ethyl ether gives 1-[4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]-1-propanol (II), which is oxidized with CrO3/H2SO4 yielding 4-(trifluoromethyl)propiophenone (III). The condensation of (III) with pyrrolidine (IV) and paraformaldehyde by means of HCl in refluxing isopropanol affords racemic 2-methyl-3-(1-pyrrolidinyl)propiophenone (V), which is finally submitted to optical resolution with N-acetyl-L-phenylglycine (VI) or D-malic acid (VII) and treated with dry HCl gas.