Reaction of 4-bromo-3-methylaniline with 4-chlorobutyryl chloride/TEA and subsequent treatment of the resulting secondary amide intermediate with KO t-Bu gives 1-(4-bromo-3- methylphenyl) pyrrolidin-2-one in 65% yield. This procedure has been optimised (74-76% overall yield) and has been carried out on 41 molar scale. In a variation of this process, we have employed NaOH as the ring-closing base under phase-transfer conditions. NaOH is ...