Used in the synthesis of cysteine protease inhibitors, particularly in the development of pharmaceutical agents targeting enzymes involved in viral replication, such as SARS-CoV-2 main protease (Mpro). Its thiol group enables covalent interaction with the active site cysteine residue, making it a key building block in designing potent and selective inhibitors. Commonly employed in medicinal chemistry for structure-activity relationship studies and optimization of protease inhibitor scaffolds. Also utilized in fragment-based drug discovery due to its favorable binding properties and ability to form stable enzyme-inhibitor complexes.