Design, synthesis and biological activity of piperlongumine derivatives as selective anticancer agents

In an effort to expand the structure-activity relationship of the natural anticancer compound piperlongumine, we have prepared sixteen novel piperlongumine derivatives with halogen or morpholine substituents at C2 and alkyl substituents at C7. Most of 2-halogenated piperlongumines showed potent in vitro activity against four cancer cells and modest selectivity for lung normal cells. The highly active anticancer compound 11h exhibited obvious …