Based on the finding that the 2-aminobenzamido group of MS-275 plays a crucial role in inhibiting HDACs through chelation of zinc existing at the active site of HDAC enzymes, novel N-(2-hydroxyphenyl)arylsulfonamide derivatives were synthesized for their potential ability to inhibit HDACs and evaluated for anticancer activity against human breast cancer cell line (MCF-7). Although the synthesized arylsulfonamides have failed to significantly inhibit total HDACs activity, phenyl carbamate-linked arylsulfonamide 10 and benzyl thiocarbamate-linked arylsulfonamide 15 exhibited good anticancer activities, which were only 4.3- and 3.6-fold lower anticancer activities, respectively, than MS-275 that is undergoing phase II clinical trials. These results suggest that these compounds may act as a selective HDAC inhibitor and probably N-(2-hydroxyphenyl) sulfamoyl group may play an important role in interacting with HDAC enzymes through chelation of zinc ion.