A process for purifying alkenyl compounds having a divalent or trivalent heteroatom in the &agr;-position relative to the double bond by distillation comprises carrying out at least two distillations in which the purified alkenyl compounds are obtained from the gas phase by condensation, where the time between the first distillation after the synthesis of the alkenyl compounds and at least one further distillation is at least one day and the purified alkenyl compounds have an APHA color number of