aqueous acid solution to form an aqueous phase and an organic phase after at least partially removing the solvent from the organic phase it is triturated with an alkane solvent under cooling to solidify the residue a highly pure and free flowing solid of 7 ethyltryptophol is recovered therefrom application_number US 88395704 A description crude tarry 7 ethyltryptophol prepared by known methods contains many polar and non polar impurities in accordance with the present invention there is provided a novel process for making a highly pure and free flowing solid of 7 ethyltryptophol from the crude tarry solid or sticky oil product this provides an excellent intermediate for further synthesis eliminating the preheating operation necessary for handling the tarry 7 ethyltryptophol and resulting in a high purity product which is useful as an intermediate for further synthesis the process comprises dissolving crude 7 ethyltryptophol prepared by the known methods in an organic solvent dissolution of the crude preparation may be carried out at ambient temperature and washing the resultant solution with an aqueous acid solution to remove most of the impurities which are separated into the resulting aqueous fraction and removed this is followed by removal of part or all of the organic solvent and solidification of the remaining residue in an alkane solvent in preferred embodiments all or substantially all of the organic solvent is removed via distillation and solidification of the remaining residue is accomplished via trituration in the alkane solvent under cooling with vigorous stirring the organic solvent utilized to dissolve the crude product can be an solvent in which 7 ethyltryptophol is soluble preferably the solvent is one that has a good solubility for 7 ethyltryptophol.