Separation of close boiling point mixtures of alkylphenols, such as p-cresol/2,6-xylenol, m-cresol/2,6-xylenol and p-cresol/m-cresol has been attempted using commercially available ion-exchange resins. The basic resins selectively adsorb the cresol isomers from their mixtures with 2,6-xylenol. The separation seems to be decided by the thermodynamic selectivity in the ion-exchange resin framework with diffusional selectivity also contributing to the separation.