(3,4-Dichlorophenyl)alanine methyl ester (I) was converted to the N-Boc amino ester (II), which was subsequently alkylated with iodomethane in the presence of Ag2O, yielding the N-methyl derivative (III). Partial reduction of the ester group of (III) to the aldehyde (IV) was carried out using DIBAL in toluene at -78 C. Horner-Emmons reaction of aldehyde (IV) with triethyl phosphonoacetate (V) furnished the arylpentenoate ester (VI), which was further hydrolyzed to acid (VII) with LiOH. Coupling of acid (VII) with D-3-amino-epsilon-caprolactam (VIII) gave rise to amide (IX). The N-Boc group of (IX) was removed by treatment with trifluoroacetic acid, and the resulting amine (X) was finally acylated with 3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)benzoyl chloride to produce the target amide.