Eight 7-hydroxyflavones were synthesized and their strcutures were confirmed by 1H NMR and ESI-MS. Their acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) inhibitory activities was determined by the Ellman method. The result showed that the synthesized compounds had potent AChE inhibitory activity at 20 umol/L, compound IIIh displayed the most potency for AChE inhibition (34.71%) which was slight better than rivastigmine. The results indicated that these 7-hydroxyflavones may provide a useful template for the development of anti-AD agents.