Used in pharmaceutical research as a deuterated analog for metabolic studies, enabling the tracking of drug pathways with greater precision. Its incorporation into drug molecules helps in understanding pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics without altering the biological activity. Also serves as a building block in the synthesis of more complex compounds, particularly in the development of nucleoside analogs for antiviral and anticancer therapies. Its deuterium labeling is valuable in NMR spectroscopy for structural analysis and in mass spectrometry for isotopic tracing.