4-Methylimidazole Hard to Meet the Demand of Pharmaceutical.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

4-Methylimidazole (4-MI) is mainly used to synthesize large-volume stomach drug cimetidine. The sales volume of cimetidine in the domestic market accounts for 21.9% of the sales volume of drugs for the digestion system and is still presenting a rising trend. Besides the use in the synthesis of cimetidine, 4-methylimidazole is also used as metal surface corrosion inhibitor and epoxy resin curing agent.

Production process

(1) Glucose process

The glucose process was once used in the world in early days. Several producers in China also used the glucose process to produce 4-methylimidazole before 1995. Due to poor product quality and serious "wastes" pollution, the medical-grade product standard can not be reached and the process is no longer used today.

(2) Hydroxy-acetone process

4-Methylimidazole can be manufactured through the …