Abstract: A series of farnesylthiosalicylamide derivatives( 9a-9k )were designed and synthesized via condensating the carboxyl of farnesylthiosalicylic acid(FTS)with different amines, and the in vitro biological activity was evaluated. It was observed that eight of them displayed strong antitumor activity against five human cancer cells in vitro. Notably, compound 9k exhibited the most active with the IC₅₀ values of 6. 05-8. 16 μmol/L range against the tested cancer cells, which were superior to those of FTS and even comparable to that of sorafenib in vitro. In addition, compound 9k down-regulated the protein of Bcl-2 and increased the expression levels of Bax and caspase-3 proteins, indicating that compound 9k could induce tumor cell apoptosis.