A process for isolating pure 2-ethylhexyl acrylate or pure 2-propylheptyl acrylate from the corresponding crude alkyl acrylate by distillation, wherein the process is carried out in a dividing wall column which has separation-active internals and vaporizer and in which a dividing wall is arranged in the longitudinal direction of the column to form an upper joint column region, a lower joint column region, an inflow section (10, 12) having a side feed point and an offtake section (11, 13) having a side offtake point, the column has a number of theoretical plates in the range from 10 to 60, where the number of theoretical plates of the dividing wall column relates to the sum of the theoretical plates in the joint upper column region, the joint lower column region and the inflow section (10, 12), the side feed point for the corresponding crude alkyl acrylate is arranged at a theoretical plate in the region commencing at least two theoretical plates above the bottommost theoretical plate and ending at least two theoretical plates below the uppermost theoretical plate, the side offtake point for the pure 2-ethylhexyl or pure 2-propylheptyl acrylate is arranged at a theoretical plate in the region commencing at least two theoretical plates above the bottommost theoretical plate and ending at least two theoretical plates below the uppermost theoretical plate and the dividing wall is arranged in the column in the region commencing at least one theoretical plate above the bottommost theoretical plate and ending at least one theoretical plate below the uppermost theoretical plate, where the ratio of amount of liquid at the upper end of the dividing wall going to the enrichment section and the stripping section of the column is set in a range from 1:0.2 to 1:5 and the ratio of amounts of the vapor streams at the lower end of the dividing wall going to the stripping section and the enrichment section of the column is set in the range from 1:0.5 to 1:2.0, where pure 2-ethylhexyl acrylate is obtained from crude 2-ethylhexyl acrylate in a purity of ≥ 98.5% by weight and the crude 2-ethylhexyl acrylate has the following composition: from 40 to 99% by weight of 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, from 0.1 to 10% by weight of 2-ethylhexanol, from 0.1 to 10% by weight of relatively high boilers (relative to 2-ethylhexyl acrylate), from 0.1 to 10% by weight of further low boilers (relative to 2-ethylhexyl acrylate), or pure 2-propylheptyl acrylate is obtained from crude 2-propylheptyl acrylate in a purity of ≥ 98.5% by weight and the crude 2-propylheptyl acrylate has the following composition: from 40 to 99% by weight of 2-propylheptyl acrylate, from 0.1 to 10% by weight of 2-propylheptanol from 0.1 to 10% by weight of relatively high boilers (relative to 2-propylheptyl acrylate), from 0.1 to 10% by weight of further low boilers (relative to 2-propylheptyl acrylate). from 40 to 99% by weight of 2-ethylhexyl acrylate, from 0.1 to 10% by weight of 2-ethylhexanol, from 0.1 to 10% by weight of relatively high boilers (relative to 2-ethylhexyl acrylate), from 0.1 to 10% by weight of further low boilers (relative to 2-ethylhexyl acrylate), from 40 to 99% by weight of 2-propylheptyl acrylate, from 0.1 to 10% by weight of 2-propylheptanol from 0.1 to 10% by weight of relatively high boilers (relative to 2-propylheptyl acrylate), from 0.1 to 10% by weight of further low boilers (relative to 2-propylheptyl acrylate).