Some furanyl-derived sulfonamides and their cobalt(II), copper(II), nickel(II), and zinc(II) complexes have been synthesized. The structural formulae of the complexes have been inferred by using physico-chemical and spectroscopic methods. The new sulfonamides behave as bidentate ligands in complexation with the metals and an octahedral geometry has been suggested for all these complexes. Both the free sulfonamides and their complexes have been screened for their in vitro antibacterial and antifungal activities against a number of bacteria and fungi. In vitro cytotoxic properties of all the compounds were also studied using brine shrimp bioassay.