Used primarily in pharmaceutical research as a key intermediate in the synthesis of centrally acting agents, particularly those targeting neurological pathways. Its structure supports the development of compounds with activity at dopamine and serotonin receptors, making it valuable in the study of psychiatric and neurological disorders. The amine functionality allows for easy derivatization, enabling the creation of amide, sulfonamide, or urea derivatives for structure-activity relationship studies. Due to the presence of the benzyl and methylpiperidine groups, it exhibits good blood-brain barrier permeability, which is advantageous in central nervous system drug design. Also employed in the preparation of radiolabeled analogs for receptor binding assays and imaging studies.