Used as a chiral building block in organic synthesis, particularly in the preparation of pharmaceuticals and biologically active compounds. Its hydroxyl and protected amine functional groups allow for selective reactions, making it valuable in multi-step syntheses. Commonly employed in the development of protease inhibitors and other medicinal agents where stereochemistry is critical. The Boc-protected amine facilitates easy deprotection under mild acidic conditions, enabling further derivatization in peptide-like structures.