Used as a chiral building block in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, particularly in the development of protease inhibitors and other bioactive molecules. Its rigid piperidine scaffold with defined stereochemistry makes it valuable for drug design where spatial orientation affects biological activity. Commonly employed in medicinal chemistry for optimizing potency and selectivity in central nervous system agents and metabolic disease treatments. Also utilized in the preparation of enzyme inhibitors due to its ability to mimic amino acid structures in peptide-like compounds.