A white, water-soluble solid, it is the sodium salt of chloroacetic acid.

It is prepared by treating chloroacetic acid with sodium carbonate.

[1][2] Chloroacetate is a good alkylating agent, serving as a reagent for affixing the -CH2CO2− group to a wide variety of even weak nucleophiles.

In terms of practical, commercial uses, it is used to convert cellulose to carboxymethylcellulose.

With bifunctional nucleophiles, sodium chloroacetate is a precursor to heterocycles.