Novel sulfonated phenyl esters of dicarboxylic acids are useful as diperoxyacid precursors in bleaching and laundering applications when combined with a source of peroxide. These diperoxyacid precursors can be produced by reacting a dicarboxylic acid, a phenol sulfonate, and a lower alkyl acid anhydride in an alkyl hydrocarbon solvent and removing a carboxylic acid byproduct through distillation. The diperoxyacid precursors have the structure: ##STR1## wherein n is an integer from about 4 to about 18 and M is an alkali metal, an alkaline earth metal, or ammonium. The diperoxyacid precursors have a high perhydrolysis profile coupled with a relatively low-to-moderate hydrolysis profile.