Used as a chiral solvating agent in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to determine enantiomeric purity and absolute configuration of chiral compounds. Particularly effective for discriminating enantiomers of carboxylic acids and other acidic substrates due to its ability to form diastereomeric complexes that give distinct NMR signals. Also employed in asymmetric synthesis as an organocatalyst or ligand for stereoselective reactions, such as Michael additions and phase-transfer catalysis, and in chiral recognition studies.