A method for the purification of alcohols from organic soluble impurities has been discovered comprising treating the crude alcohol with a cyclic anhydride followed by an aqueous base and extracting the corresponding half-ester into aqueous solution leaving the impurities in organic solution. This method is particularly useful for the separation of chiral, nonracemic alcohols from the corresponding antipodal ester (the mixture resulting from an enzymatic kinetic resolution) because the separation is non-chromatographic and the enantiomeric integrity of the products is maintained.