Yissum signs licensing agreement with Dow AgroFresh for a novel water-soluble compound that antagonizes the action of the plant hormone ethylene, a patent written by our team.

In a joint research project, which was supported by a research grant from the United States - Israel Bi-national Agriculture Research and Development Fund (BARD), Prof. Edward C. Sisler, at North Carolina State University, Raleigh, N.C., contributed to the invention by synthesizing the novel 3-cyclopropyl propanoic acid (CPA), a derivative of cyclopropene, which is a gaseous ethylene antagonist. In the frame of the same research project, Professor R. Goren and his associates Professors E E. Goldschmidt, J. Riov, A. Apelbaum and Dr. M. Huberman, from the Robert H. Smith Faculty of Agriculture, Food, and Environment of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel chose to use Prof. Sisler’s CPA as a basis for the synthesis of 3-Cyclopropyl-1-enyl-propanoic acid sodium salt (CPAS), a novel water-soluble ethylene antagonist. Unlike gaseous ethylene antagonists, it can be sprayed as a water solution in the field, plantation, or green house, or dip-loaded into cut flowers, and is effective as both a pre- and post-harvest treatment. The patent was written by Dr. Eyal Bressler and Co. team.