The cyclization of 3-(2-methoxyphenylthio)propionic acid (II) with PPA yields 8 methoxythiochroman-4-one (III). Thiochromanone (III) is then reduced to 8-hydroxythiochromane (IV) by the Wolff-Kishner reduction method. Demethylation is almost complete during this reduction. The 8-hydroxythiochromane (IV), treated with epichlorohydrin, yields the corresponding epoxide (V), which when treated with excess tert-butylamine yields tertatolol base.