有特殊气味。溶于水呈不透明溶液，溶液呈中性。能乳化脂肪。有湿热空气中分解。有光滑感。1g溶于10ml水中，形成乳状液，水溶液表面张力小，呈中性反应，部分溶于乙醇，几乎不溶于氯仿、乙醚和轻石油。低毒，半数致死量(大鼠，经口)1288mg/kg。有刺激性。溶解度:150 g/l 水 (20°C)，75 g/l 乙醇 (20°C)

十二烷基硫酸钠被用作一种检测化合物，用于研究解淀粉芽孢杆菌KPS46是否能在大豆（Glycine max L.）中诱导针对几种疾病的引发、信号传导、蛋白质产生以及系统保护。
十二烷基硫酸钠（SDS）是一种阴离子去污剂，可通过疏水相互作用与蛋白质形成复合物。已有研究报道称蛋白质-SDS复合物的流体动力学功能受其多肽链长度的控制。因此，基于SDS的电泳技术可根据蛋白质的分子量而将蛋白质分子进行分离。此外，SDS还可溶解细胞膜并提取膜结合蛋白。

Sodium dodecyl sulfate was used as a test compound for studying that whether Bacillus amyloliquefaciens KPS46 can induce priming, signaling, protein production as well as systemic protection in soybean (Glycine max L.) against several diseases.
Sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) is an anionic detergent that can form complexes with protein through hydrophobic interactions. Studies have reported that the hydrodynamic functions of protein-SDS complexes are governed by the length of their polypeptide chains. Thus, SDS-based electrophoretic techniques can separate protein molecules based on their molecular weights.Additionally, SDS can solubilize cell membranes and can extract membrane-bound proteins.