acetic acid in methanol; water; acetic acid mixing of soln. of cresol in MeOH and Hg(OAc)2 in MeOH and HOAc, stirring 12 h), filtration, addn. of NaCl in water (pptn.); filtration, further crop pptn. on further addn. of water into filtrate, filtration, drying, recrystn. (CHCl3);