Three Zn(Ⅱ) sulfonate compounds: {[Zn₃(Ac)₄(4,4′-bipy)₄]·2(3-pySO₃)·H₂O}_n (1), {[Zn(4,4′-bipy)(H₂O)₄]·2(Me-phSO₃)}_n (2), and {[Zn(4,4′-bipy)(H₂O)₄]·2(NH₂-phSO₃)}_n (3), were synthesized through solvent diffusion method at room temperature (3-pySO₃H = Pyridine-3-Sulfonic acid; Me-phSO₃H = P-Toluene Sulfonic acid; NH₂-phSO₃H = Sulfanilic acid). Single-crystal X-ray diffractions reveal that the crystal structure of compound 1 contains a 2D cationic layer with pseudo-square grid motifs formed by trinuclear Zn(II) units which connected by 4,4′-bipy ligands. Water molecule forms hydrogen bonds with free 3-PySO₃⁻ anions which are located in the voids of the cationic grids. Compounds 2 and 3 show isostructural 1D [Zn(4,4′-bipy)(H₂O)₄]²⁺ chains with sulfonate anions connected to the chain via hydrogen bonding. The weak interactions in the structures of the three compounds have been assessed using Hirshfeld surface analyses and 2D fingerprint plots. The Hirshfeld surface shows that the most important contributions for the crystal packing are from H···H and H··O/O··H interactions, which indicate dominant van der Waals interactions. In addition, the compounds were investigated by powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), elemental analyses, UV–vis, FT-IR, solid-state fluorescence spectroscopy, and thermal analyses (TG-DSC).