Abstract: Dodecylamine sodium chloroacetate (DSC) was synthesized from dodecylamine and dichloroacetic acid as starting materials.The first step product is dodecylamine chloroacetic acid (DCA).Optimum reaction conditions for preparing DCA were determined as:mole ratio of dichloroacetic acid to dodecylamine 1∶1.5;mass fraction of the catalyst 1%;reaction time 18 h at 120 ℃.The DCA yield achieves 58.91%.Structure of the final product DSC was characterized by IR.The measurement results for surface activities of the final product showed that critical micelle concentration (cmc) of DSC achieves 3.38×10^-3 mol·L^-1 and lowest surface tension (γ_cmc) of DSC achieves 27.43 mN·m^-1.The dispersing property of DSC was identified by UV-vis and ZetaPALS,and the optimum mass fraction of DSC as dispersant in water-based printing ink is 1.6%.

Key words: dodecylamine sodium chloroacetate, synthesis, water-based printing ink, dispersant