Available online at www.derpharmachemica.com Scholars Research Library Der Pharma Chemica, 2012, 4(6):2470-2488 (http://derpharmachemica.com/archive.html) ISSN 0975-413X CODEN (USA): PCHHAX 2470 www.scholarsresearchlibrary.com A valuable insight into recent advances on antimicrobial activity of piperazine derivatives Rajeev Kharb*, Kushal Bansal, Anil Kumar Sharma CT Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Jalandhar-144020, Punjab, India. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT The worldwide problem of microbial resistance has drawn utmost attention for medicinal chemists because of failure of currently available antimicrobial therapy against microbial infections. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop novel antimicrobial agents with different mode of actions. In the search of better antimicrobial agents, different heterocyclic compounds have been explored and out of them piperazine derivatives have shown a broad spectrum of pharmacological activities like antibacterial, antifungal, antitubercular, anticancer, antiviral, antioxidant activities etc. This communication is focused on to review antimicrobial activities of different piperazine derivatives in detail and the valuable information provided in this manuscript may help in the drug design and development of better antimicrobial agents. Keywords: Piperazine, antibacterial, antifungal, antitubercular activity. _____________________________________________________________________________________________ INTRODUCTION Treatment of microbial infections including bacterial, fungal, and tubercular is becoming difficult because of everlasting problem of microbial resistance towards antibiotics hence the need for new generations of anti-infective agents, and in particular new antimicrobial agents, is constant for effective treatment of microbial infections [1]. Medicinal chemists have been highly successful in the recent years in reshaping the scaffolds of earlier antibiotics, both natural and synthetic in which heterocyclic nucleus constitutes a part of pharmacophore which is essential for a particular pharmacological activity [2, 3]. A heterocyclic compound is a cyclic compound that has hetero atoms such as N, O and S as members of its ring(s) having medicinal importance [4], Piperazine (1) is such a medicinally important heterocyclic nucleus which consists of a six-membered ring containing two nitrogen atoms at opposite positions in the ring. The piperazine nucleus has been classified as a privileged structure and is frequently found in biologically active compounds across a number of different therapeutic areas [5]. Some of these therapeutic areas include antimicrobial, anti-tubercular, antipsychotic, anticonvulsant, antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, cytotoxic, antimalarial, antiarrhythmic, antioxidant and antiviral activities etc. possessed by the compounds having piperazine nucleus [6, 7].