Used in research as a fluorinated nucleoside analog, particularly in studies related to antiviral drug development. Its structure allows for enhanced metabolic stability and improved tracking in biological systems due to the trifluoroacetyl (TFA) group. Commonly employed in the investigation of reverse transcriptase inhibitors, especially in the context of HIV. The compound serves as a probe to study enzyme mechanisms and nucleoside transport pathways. Also utilized in metabolic labeling experiments where the fluorine atom enables detection by 19F NMR spectroscopy.