L-isovaline is used in research related to the origin of life and prebiotic chemistry due to its presence in meteorites, suggesting extraterrestrial formation. It serves as a chiral biomarker to study asymmetry in organic molecules, helping scientists understand how biological systems evolved to favor specific enantiomers. It is also employed in studies of amino acid stability under extreme conditions, contributing to astrobiology and planetary science. Additionally, L-isovaline is used in analytical chemistry as a reference compound for detecting non-terrestrial amino acids in space samples.