In part I of this thesis some of the parameters relevant to the production of a cosmological baryon number asymmetry are considered in the context of grand unified models. General expressions for the average baryon number generated in the free decays of bosons are derived . The CP violation necessary for the generation of a baryon excess is discussed for a variety of SU(5) models. The kinematics of baryon number production in an illustrative SO(10) model is discussed in detail. In part II a viable SO(10) model is constructed which reproduces the phenomenological fermion mass and mixing angle values. A detailed discussion of the beta function for this model is presented. This analysis includes the effects of scalars.
