Sodium benzenesulfonate is an organic compound with the formula . It is white, water-soluble solid, It is produced by the neutralization benzenesulfonic acid with sodium hydroxide. It is also a common ingredient in some detergents. The compound typically crystallizes from water as the monohydrate.
Heating this salt in strong base results in desulfonation, giving, after acid workup, phenol[1] This reaction was at one time, the principal route to phenol.