醫藥品關係著國人的健康 ，尤其在全民健康保險實施後，國內對醫藥品
的需求將會更多，估計844年將會到達 600億台幣。面對如此龐大的市場
，我國的製藥工業將具有相當雄厚的發展潛力，並應把握此大好契機 ，
提昇製藥界的生產技術及品質，以達先進國家的水準 ，此外也應積極研
發原料藥，以期有朝一日能由進口原料的加工業，轉變成原料藥的供應國
。本論文的研究就是研發原料藥的製程 ，首先選定行銷量大、用途廣、
市場穩定的鎮咳袪痰劑 ─Guaifenesin(癒創木酚甘油醚)─ 為目標，在
眾多的合成方法中 ，加以比較優劣點 ，找出最佳製程 。而研究結果發
現以 guaiacol和glycidol合成之製程，產率最高可達到91.1%，而以
guaiacol的鹽類和chlorohydrin反應的製程，在以水為溶劑的情況下產率
可達 89.8%而以氯苯為溶劑時產率亦可達 90.04%，皆比文獻值85%高出許
多。另一階段的guaiacol合成研究結果中，發現以 catechol 和
dimethyl sulfate反應，在氯苯為溶劑的條件下，產率可達69.03%，和文
獻值相去不遠，而以 catechol和 iodomethane在稍具壓力的反應條件下
，產率也達到 73.48%。除了比較各製程的產率高低外 ，本文亦以設備、
成本、反應時間等因素，來衡量各製程的優缺點。

Medicine will play the most important role especially after
the practice of health insurance program for everyone in
Taiwan which is estimated to reach six hundred millions NT
dollars in 1995. With this tremendous market potential, the
Pharmaceutical industry should strive to improve its quality
and manufacturing process to the level of the developed
country especially in the active ingredient-medicine to
become the suppliers in this highly speciallized field. This
artical deals with the process studies on the widely used
cough medicine "Guaifenesin". Of the processes investigated
,the combination of guaiacol with glycidol yielded 91.1% and
the combination of guaiacol salt with chlorohydrin yielded
89.8% product. These yields are all higher than the 85% yield
reported in patents. In the raw material (guaiacol) process
development ,reacting catechol with dimethyl sulfate using
chlorobenzene as a solvent gave 69.03% yield , while using
catechol and iodomethane provided 73.48% yield. This report
compares various manufacturing processes not only based on the
product yield but also on raw materials cost,equi- pments cost
and reaction time in order to find the best manufact- uring
process for "guaifenesin".