Pyrroline (III) was prepared by Favorskii rearrangement of 3,5-dibromo-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidinone (I) in the presence of 1,3-diaminopropane (II). Acylation at the primary amino group of (III) with phthalic anhydride (IV) gave the 2-carboxybenzamide (VI), which was cyclized to the target phthalimide (VII) by refluxing in toluene in the presence of Et3N. Alternatively, the phthalimido derivative (VII) was obtained by condensation of amine (III) with phthalimide (V) at 150 C. The target compound was then isolated as the hydrochloride salt upon treatment with HCl in EtOH-Et2O.