A reductiveamination/cyclization approach towards biologically interesting trifluoromethylated four- to seven-membered ring lactams from simply prepared ω-trifluoromethylketoesters in good to excellent yields has been developed. In addition, trifluoromethylatedδ-aminoalcohols were also obtained directly from an unexpected reduction of the corresponding y-imino esters in the presence of an excess