The esterification of N-benzyloxycarbonylnortropine (II) with diphenyl chloroacetic acid (I) gives the corresponding ester (III), which is deprotected and hydrolyzed to afford nortropine benzylate (IV). This compound (IV) is alkylated with 2-bromo-1-fluoroethane (V) by means of Na2CO3 in refluxing acetonitrile yielding N-(2-fluoroethyl)nortropine benzylate (VI), which is finally treated with methyl bromide in dichloromethane acetonitrile.