Thirteen 2-(N-(3-nitrophenyl)-N-phenylsulfonyl)aminoacetohydroxamic acids which were reported for the first time were designed and synthesized as novel urease inhibitors. Most of them showed higher potency than the positive control acetohydroxamic acid, with 2-(N-(3-nitrophenyl)-N-(4-bromophenylsulfonyl)aminoacetohydroxamic acid (d7) being the most active (IC<sub>50</sub> = 0.13 ± 0.01 μM). Compound d7 reversibly inhibits urease with mixed mechanism showing excellent binding affinity to urease active site (K<sub>D</sub> = 0.34 nM, K<sub>i</sub>=0.065 ± 0.003 µM andK<sub>i</sub><sup>'</sup> = 1.20 ± 0.09 µM) and very low cytotoxicity against mammalian cells (cell viability of 91.4 % against HepG2 at 250 μg/mL). These positive results indicated that d7 may be used as the lead for further research to develop urease inhibitors with promising properties.