Used in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, particularly in the development of peptidomimetic drugs and enzyme inhibitors. Its trifluoromethyl group enhances metabolic stability and lipophilicity, improving drug absorption and bioavailability. Commonly employed in research for designing bioactive peptides with increased resistance to degradation. Also utilized in medicinal chemistry to probe structure-activity relationships in receptor binding studies, especially for neurological targets due to its structural similarity to natural amino acids.