It is used in a variety of food products, as a surface active agent, stabilizer, thickener, wetting agent, processing aid, solubilizing agent, emulsifier, and dispersant. The highest amount found in food products is 0.5% by weight, which include pasteurized cheese spreads, cream cheeses and salad dressings. The FDA also approved its use as a wetting agent or solubilizer for flavoring agents in carbonated and non-carbonated drinks at levels up to 10 parts per million. Microencapsulation
Sodium docusate is the most widely used surfactant in reverse micelle encapsulation studies. Non-medical brand names
As a surfactant, docusate sodium is or has been commercialized under many brand names, including DSSj Aerosol OT, Alphasol OT, Colace, Complemix, Coprol, Dioctylal, Dioctyl-Medo Forte, Diotilan, Diovac, Disonate, Doxinate, Doxol, Dulsivac, Molatoc, Molofac, Nevax, Norval, Regutol, Softili, Solusol, Sulfimel DOS, Vatsol OT, Velmol, and Waxsol

Chemistry
Structure and properties
The structural formula of the docusate anion is R−O−C(=O)−CH(SO−3)−CH2−C(=O)−O−R, where R is the 2-ethylhexyl group H3C−(CH2)3−C(−CH2−CH3)H−CH2−. The conjugate acid can be described as the twofold carboxylate ester of sulfosuccinic acid with 2-ethylhexanol. The compound is a white, wax-like, plastic solid, with an odor suggestive of octyl alcohol. It starts to decompose at about 220 °C.Solubility of dioctyl sodium sulfosuccinate in water is 14 g/L at 25 °C, increasing to 55 g/L at 70 °C. Solubility is better in less polar solvents: 1:30 in ethanol, 1:1 in chloroform and diethylether, and practically unlimited in petroleum ether (25 °C). It also is highly soluble in glycerol, although this is a rather polar solvent.
Found in the renal pelvis, ureter, and capillaries supplying the nephrons, capillary sclerosis is thought to lead to renal papillary necrosis and, in turn, chronic interstitial nephritis.How phenacetin and other analgesics lead to this damage is incompletely understood. It is currently thought that the kidney toxicities of NSAIDs and the antipyretics phenacetin and paracetamol may combine to give rise to analgesic nephropathy. A committee of investigators reported in 2000 that there was insufficient evidence to suggest that non-phenacetin analgesics by themselves are associated with analgesic nephropathy. Aspirin and NSAIDs
Proper kidney function depends upon adequate blood flow to the kidney. Kidney blood flow is a complex, tightly regulated process that relies on a number of hormones and other small molecules, such as prostaglandins. Under normal circumstances, prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) produced by the kidney is necessary to support adequate blood flow to the kidney. Like all prostaglandins, PGE2 synthesis depends upon the cyclooxygenases.Aspirin and other NSAIDs are inhibitors of the cyclooxygenases. In the kidney, this inhibition results in decreased PGE2 concentration causing a reduction in blood flow. Because blood flow to the kidney first reaches the renal cortex (outside) and then the renal medulla (inside), the deeper structures of the kidney are most sensitive to decreased blood flow. Thus the innermost structures of the kidney, known as the renal papillae, are especially dependent on prostaglandin synthesis to maintain adequate blood flow.