Floral Anti-senescence Agents for the
Ethylene Receptor

Michael Pirrung, Duke University, Box 90317, Durham, North
Carolina, 27708, Phone: 919-681-3482 Fax: 919-660-1591 E-mail: pirrung@chem.duke.edu

Anthony Bleecker, University of Wisconsin, Department of
Botany, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, Wisconsin, 53706 Phone: 608-262-4009 Fax:
608-262-7509 E-mail: bleecker@facstaff.wisc.edu

The benefit to the floral industry sought in this proposal is
increasing the vase life, transportability, and quality/performance of cut
flowers, and will result primarily from the final year’s research results. All
sectors of the industry will benefit from reduced perishability of their
products, but particularly, the opportunities for direct marketing of floral
products through electronic commerce will be enhanced by increased
transportability at lower cost and with higher quality.

The Pirrung lab has finally developed an excellent, two-step,
general synthetic route to novel MCP analogues, and prepared a wide variety of
substituted derivates. We designed and synthesized two compounds bearing
tertiary amine and hydroxyl groups to be more stable and less volatile than MCP.
We designed and synthesized several compounds bearing short carbon chains. We
have designed and synthesized a new molecule that is a "protected"
version of MCP, in that it is not volatile or unstable, but in the presence of
an innocuous chemical reagent found in toothpaste, is converted to MCP.

The Bleecker lab has received the tertiary amine and
hydroxyl-containing MCP analogues for study of their ethylene antagonist action.
Data are being analyzed.

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