Deoxycholic acid (typically abbreviated DOC) is a bile acid typically found in the intestine. Bile acids typically cause DNA damage and can lead to an increase in mutations. Deoxycholic acid can be covalently attached to glycol chitosan as a delivery system in nanotechnological applications. Many other applications, such as those to perform 1,4-addition of diethylzinc to acyclic enones, requires the binding of Deoxycholic acid to other molecules to create ligands that are conducive to addition of metals to certain enones.

In more general applications, Deoxycholic acid is used to increase the solubilization of cells. Deoxycholic acid is typically used as an ingredient in the creation of RIPA buffers, added in concentrations between 0.5% and 2.5%. These buffers are typically used to extract proteins from membranes and cytoplasm. This method of extraction contains the ionic detergent SDS and is useful for the disruption of nuclear membranes and their associated proteins. Proteins extracted via this initial procedure can be used in other analytical procedures like western blot or a BCA protein assay.