Used as an intermediate in pharmaceutical synthesis, particularly in the development of protease inhibitors and other bioactive molecules. Its protected thiol and amine functionalities allow selective reactions in multi-step organic syntheses. Commonly employed in the preparation of cysteine protease inhibitors due to the thiol group’s ability to interact with active site metals or form disulfide bonds. Also utilized in the construction of peptidomimetic compounds where the piperidine ring serves as a structural scaffold to mimic peptide geometry. The tert-butyl ester group enables easy deprotection under mild acidic conditions, making it suitable for solid-phase synthesis and combinatorial chemistry applications.