Solenopsins are described as toxic against vertebrates and invertebrates. For example, the compound known as isosolenopsin A has been demonstrated to have strong insecticidal effects which may play a central role in the biology of fire ants.
In addition to its toxicity, solenopsis has a number of other biological activities.  It inhibits angiogenesis in vitro via the phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) signaling pathway, inhibits neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) in a manner that appears to be non-competitive with -arginine, and inhibits quorum-sensing signaling in some bacteria. The biological activities of solenopsins have led researchers to propose a number of biotechnological and biomedical applications for these compounds. For instance, mentioned anti-bacterial and interference in quorum-sensing signalling apparently provide solenopsins with considerable anti-biofilm activity, which suggests the potential of analogs as new disinfectants and surface-conditioning agents. Also, solenopsins have been demonstrated to inhibit cell division and viability of Trypanosoma cruzi, the cause of Chagas disease, which suggests these alkaloids as potential chemotherapeutic drugs.
Solenopsin and analogs share structural and biological properties with the sphingolipid ceramide, a major endogenous regulator of cell signaling, inducing mitophagy and anti-proliferative effects in different tumor cell lines.
Synthetic analogs of solenopsin are being studied for the potential treatment of psoriasis.