The hydroxamic acid analogues (2) of the natural product gelastatins (1) were prepared by I step conversion reaction. The synthetic analogues (2) showed potent enzymatic inhibitory activities against MMP-2, MMP-9, and TACE IC50's of 6, 23, and 28 nM, respectively. In addition, 2 were able to inhibit TNF-alpha production effectively in mice as well as in a macrophage cell line, RAW 264.7. The protective effect of 2 also was examined on LPS-induced acute septic shock model. The mechanism of TNF-alpha inhibition was examined by RT-PCR and Western blot analyses. The relation of TACE and alpha-secretase was examined Using cellular alpha-secretase assays on IMR-32 and SH-SY5Y cell lines. The docking mode of 2 with the catalytic domain of TACE was illustrated to analyze the binding mode For the further analogue design. (c) 2006 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.