ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a detailed discussion on the occurrence and production, uses, chemical and physical properties, exposure and exposure limits, toxicokinetics, and effects of rhenium in humans. The crustal abundance of rhenium is 0.001 ppm. It occurs in nature in gadolinite, molybdenite, columbite, rare earth minerals, and some sulfide ores. Rhenium has been recovered from molybdenum and copper concentrates. It is extracted from molybdenum concentrates as K perrhenate, which is reduced to the metal. The industrial uses of rhenium include contacts in marine engine magnets, electron tubes, and heater elements for metal evaporation. Merck Index also lists plating and possible use in high-temperature thermocouples and in tungsten and molybdenum alloys. The effects of rhenium in humans include information on acute toxicity, chronic toxicity, biochemistry, specific organs and systems, teratogenicity, mutagenicity, and carcinogenicity.
