Tetrazoles have applications in both materials science and pharmaceuticals. Tetrazoles can tolerate a wide range of chemical environments, from strongly acidic to basic as well as oxidizing and reducing conditions. Tetrazoles are metabolically stable bioisosteres of the carboxylic acid group, and can serve as precursors to a variety of nitrogen-containing heterocycles by the Huisgen rearrangement. They also function as simple lipophilic spacers displaying two substituents in the appropriate manner, where the connectivity patterns of the embedded tetrazole units bear a striking resemblance to those of their 1,2,3-triazole analogues. The presence of a halogen allows these reagents to be used as substrates in various coupling reactions, including Suzuki-Miyaura cross-coupling reactions.
