Used in pharmaceutical synthesis as a chiral building block for the development of central nervous system agents. It serves as an intermediate in the production of certain antidepressants and anti-anxiety medications due to its structural similarity to neurotransmitter analogs. Its enantiomeric purity makes it valuable in asymmetric synthesis, where stereochemistry plays a critical role in drug efficacy. Also employed in research settings for the preparation of novel psychoactive substance analogs for metabolic and binding studies.