ABSTRACT
Vanadium—an omnipresent element in earth’s crust and in sea water—is widely deployed in industrial processes, including steel production, catalytic issues (such as manufacturing sulfuric acid) and (storage) batteries. Its increasing usage in industrial processes also causes, at least locally, environmental problems, since higher vanadium concentrations in water and air (vanadate, vanadium oxides) can cause health hazards. On the other hand, the analogy between vanadate and phosphate and the ease of redox conversion between VV (H2VO4−) and VIV (VO2+) can have beneficial effects with respect to the potential application of vanadate and/or (IV) and −(V) coordination compounds in health issues. Examples are the treatment of diabetes and cancer, and the use of vanadium compounds in immune regulation, in wound healing and in the obliteration of reactive oxygen species. Further, viral and bacterial afflictions (such as tuberculosis, pneumonia and sand-fly fever) are—principally—targets for vanadium-based medications.
