The partition coefficients of benzoic acid in solutions of two immiscible solvents. water and n-dodecane, were measured at temperatures of (293.15 and 298.15) K. The experimental results indicated that at both temperatures the partition coefficients were not constant, but showed linear dependences on the concentration of benzoic acid in water. Dimerization of benzoic acid in n-dodecane and ionization in water were assumed based on the chemical theory and the experimental results verified this assumption quite well. Accordingly the association equilibrium constants of benzoic acid in n-dodecane were obtained by a linear regression. The regression results also showed that there was a very strong dimerization of benzoic acid in n-dodecane over the temperatures and concentration range investigated. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.