Because of their amphiphilic structure, the polymers have surfactant properties that make them useful in industrial applications. Among other things, they can be used to increase the water solubility of hydrophobic, oily substances or otherwise increase the miscibility of two substances with different hydrophobicities. For this reason, these polymers are commonly used in industrial applications, cosmetics, and pharmaceuticals. They have also been evaluated for various drug delivery applications and were shown to sensitize drug resistant cancers to chemotherapy.
In bioprocess applications, poloxamers are used in cell culture media for their cell cushioning effects because their addition leads to less stressful shear conditions for cells in reactors.
In materials science, the poloxamer P123 has recently been used in the synthesis of mesoporous materials, including SBA-15.