This invention pertains to a method of purifying ibuprofen-comprising reaction product mixtures. The method of purification is based on crystallization of ibuprofen from a hydrocarbon solvent and the discovery that there are impurity complexes in the ibuprofen-comprising reaction product mixtures which cannot be removed by crystallization from a hydrocarbon solvent.The method of the invention includes at least one step in which the impurity complex in a first ibuprofen-comprising mixture is destabilized or broken up, followed by crystallization of the ibuprofen from a second solution or mixture comprising the first ibuprofen-comprising mixture, whereby the impurities which were previously complexed can then be removed from the ibuprofen by the crystallization of ibuprofen from a solvent.