inhibit histone deacetylase histone deacetylase inhibition can repress gene expression including expression of genes related to tumor suppression accordingly inhibition of histone deacetylase can provide an alternate route for treating cancer hematological disorders e g hemoglobinopathies autosomal dominant disorders e g spinal muscular atrophy and huntington 39 s disease genetic related metabolic disorders e g cystic fibrosis and adrenoleukodystrophy or for stimulating hematopoietic cells ex vivo application_number US 44219103 A description the compounds of formula i and ii can generally be prepared according to the following methods the alpha chalcogenmethylcarbonyls can be prepared from a methyl ketone as shown in scheme a generally a methyl ketone can be activated as a silyl enol ether next the silyl enol ether can react with thionyl chloride to form a chloromethyl ketone the chloromethyl ketone can then react with a chalcogen containing compound of the formula x 2 h where x 2 is u2014 or 1 u2014 sr 1 or u2014 ser 1 and r 1 is hydrogen alkyl acyl aryl or aralkyl alternatively the alpha chalcogenmethylcarbonyl can be made by converting a carboxylic acid to the corresponding chloromethyl ketone by sequential treatment with oxalyl chloride diazomethane and hcl as summarized in scheme b the resulting chloromethyl ketone can then converted to the alpha chalcogenmethylcarbonyl as shown in scheme a a carboxylic acid containing compound can be prepared by any known methods in the art for example a compound having an unsaturated hydrocarbon chain between a and u2014 c u2550 x 1 u2014 can be prepared according scheme c where l u2032 is a saturated or unsaturated.