Used in the synthesis of peptidomimetic drugs due to its structural similarity to natural amino acids, enabling enhanced metabolic stability and bioavailability. Serves as a chiral building block in pharmaceuticals, particularly in the development of enzyme inhibitors and receptor agonists/antagonists. Its extended alkyl chain contributes to increased lipophilicity, improving membrane permeability in drug candidates. Also employed in research for probing enzyme specificity and designing bioactive peptides with modified backbone structures.