Pellitorine, a potential anti-cancer lead compound against HL6 and MCT-7 cell lines and microbial transformation of piperine from Piper Nigrum.

Pellitorine (1), which was isolated from the roots of Piper nigrum, showed strong cytotoxic activities against HL60 and MCT-7 cell lines. Microbial transformation of piperine (2) gave a new compound 5-[3,4-(methylenedioxy)phenyl]-pent-2-ene piperidine (3). Two other alkaloids were also found from Piper nigrum.