> However, naphthalene-2-sulfonic acid is a few kcal/mol more stable than its 1-isomer. This is due to an adverse 1,8 steric interaction present in the 1-isomer.
Because the sulfonation reaction is reversible, if we run it long enough at high temperature (favoring reversibility), eventually we will wind up with the thermodynamically preferred (more stable) product, the 2-isomer.