The low solubility of sulfonic acids in organic solvents and their high solubility in water makes necessary a treatment different from that for carboxylic acids. Sulfonic acids are strong acids, they have the tendency to hydrate, and many of them contain water of crystallisation. The lower-melting and liquid acids can generally be purified with only slight decomposition by fractional distillation, preferably under reduced pressure. A common impurity is sulfuric acid, but this can be removed by recrystallisation from concentrated aqueous solutions. The wet acid can be dried by azeotropic removal of water with toluene, followed by distillation. The higher-melting acids, or acids that melt with decomposition, can be recrystallised from water or, occasionally, from ethanol.

These acids are less stable, less soluble and less acidic than the corresponding sulfonic acids. The common impurities are the respective sulfonyl chlorides from which they have been prepared, and the thiolsulfonates (neutral) and sulfonic acids into which they decompose. The first two of these can be removed by solvent extraction from an alkaline solution of the acid. On acidification of an alkaline solution, the sulfinic acid crystallises out leaving the sulfonic acid behind. The lower molecular weight members are isolated as their metal (e.g. femc) salts, but the higher members can be crystallised from water (made slightly acidic), or alcohol.