Used as an intermediate in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, particularly in the development of nicotinamide-based compounds with potential metabolic and neurological activity. It serves as a building block for pyridinone derivatives, which are explored for their enzyme inhibitory properties. Also employed in research related to NAD+ metabolism modulators due to its structural similarity to nicotinamide. Its acetic acid side chain allows for easy functionalization, making it useful in medicinal chemistry for creating analogs and probing structure-activity relationships.