[3][verification needed] Methyl triflate is commercially available, however it may also be prepared in the laboratory by treating dimethyl sulfate with triflic acid.

[4] Methyl triflate will alkylate many functional groups which are very poor nucleophiles such as aldehydes, amides, and nitriles.

[5] Methyl triflate initiates the living cationic polymerization of lactide[6] and other lactones including β-propiolactone, ε-caprolactone and glycolide.

[8] 2-alkyl-2-oxazolines, for example 2-ethyl-2-oxazoline, are also polymerized to poly(2-alkyloxazoline)s.[9] Carbon-11 methyl triflate ([11C]MeOTf[10]), or methyl triflate containing the carbon-11 isotope, is commonly used in radiochemistry to synthesize radioactively labeled compounds that can be traced in living organisms using positron emission tomography (PET).

For example, [11C]MeOTf has been used extensively in the production of Pittsburgh Compound B, which first allowed β-amyloid plaques to be imaged in a living brain.