A simple synthesis, involving a key coupling reaction, and the biological activity of the title compounds 16 and 17 are described. The key fragments are the amine·HCl salt 6 and the acids 9 and 13, which were smoothly coupled by using ethyl(dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide (EDCI) and 1- hydroxybenzotriazole (HOBt) in high yield.We have found that the in vitro growth inhibitory potency of the new compounds 16 and 17 exhibits good histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity.