The invention provides a technology for complexing, crystallizing, separating and purifying 
metacresol, belonging to the field of separation and purification in a 
chemical industry. The technology comprises the steps of dissolving 
urea in mixed 
phenol: adding the mixed 
phenol into a reactor, wherein the mixed 
phenol comprises 10.907wt% of o-
cresol, 34.276wt% of p-
cresol, 53.176wt% of m-
cresol and 1.641% of dimethyl phenol; adding the 
urea into the reactor, wherein the 
mole ratio of the 
urea to the m-cresol is 1.0-1.8; heating and rising the temperature to be 85-105DEG C in a water bath or an 
oil bath for 40-80min, so that the urea is completely dissolved in the mixed phenol; cooling, adding normal 
hexane under the temperature of 60DEG C, and crystallizing for 1-2h under the temperature from -10DEG C to -20DEG C; transporting crystallized 
serous fluid into a filter to separate 
solid from liquid; recovering filter liquor in a rectifying way, adding water into crystalline 
solid, and hydrolyzing during heating at 40DEG C to obtain water phase and organic phase; and recovering the water phase, so that the organic phase is the m-cresol. In the technology, methylbenzene is replaced by normal 
hexane to be taken as a dissolvent for complexing and crystallizing reaction, so that the technology is higher in the yield of the cresol, the usage amount of the dissolvent can be reduced by one third, and the dissolvent can be covered by less 
energy consumption.