The effect of imides, monothioimides, trimellitimides, as well as 5'-deoxy-5'-phthaloylamino-derivatives of azidothymidine on tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) production by genetically modified murine B78H1 melanoma cells transduced with the gene for human TNF-alpha (B78/TNF) was investigated. It was found that N-(adamant-1-yl)monothiophthalimide (1e) and N-(adamant-2-yl)-monothiophthalimide (1f) showed over 200% enhancing of TNF-alpha production while some of imides were inhibitors.