Six sulfonamides derived from indanes and tetralines were synthesized. The human carbonic anhydrase isozymes hCA I and hCA II inhibition effects of the synthesized sulfonamides were determined. From these compounds, while N-(5,6-dimethoxy-2,3-dihydro-1H-inden-2-yl) methane sulfonamide showed the most potent inhibitory effect against hCA I (K i ¼ 46 AE 5.4 mM, r 2 ¼ 0.978), N-(1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalene-2-yl)methanesulfonamide was found to have the best inhibitory effect against hCA II (K i ¼ 94 AE 7.6 mM, r 2 ¼ 0.982).