Used as a key intermediate in the synthesis of pharmaceuticals, particularly in the development of central nervous system agents and psychoactive drugs. It serves as a building block for compounds with potential antidepressant, anxiolytic, or hallucinogenic properties. Its structure is valuable in medicinal chemistry for modifying aromatic cores to enhance binding affinity to neurotransmitter receptors. Also employed in research settings to design novel analogs for structure-activity relationship studies.