Metallo-b-lactamases (MBLs), produced by an increasing number of bacterial pathogens, facilitate the hydrolysis of many commonly used b-lactam antibiotics. There are no clinically useful antagonists against MBLs. Two sets of tetrahydropyrimidine-2-thione and pyrrole derivatives were synthesized and assayed for their inhibitory effects on the catalytic activity of the IMP-1 MBL from Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae. Nine compounds tested (1a, 3b, 5c, 6b, 7a, 8a, 11c, 13a, and 16a) showed micromolar inhibition constants (K i values range from 20-80 lM). Compounds 1c, 2b, and 15a showed only weak inhibition. In silico docking was employed to investigate the binding mode of each enantiomer of the strongest inhibitor, 5c (K i = 19 ± 9 lM), as well as 7a (K i = 21 ± 10 lM), the strongest inhibitor of the pyrrole series, in the active site of IMP-1.