Concise total synthesis of diketopiperazine PJ147, obtained from mycelium of Gliocladium sp. YUP08, has been achieved in seven steps with 43.5% overall yield. Biological evaluation of PJ147 exhibited strong inhibiting activity against A375-S2, Hela, P388, A-549, HL-60, and BEL-7420 cell lines. Thus, eight derivatives of PJ147 with high water solubility were also synthesized to facilitate the in vivo bioassay of this kind of diketopiperazines.