Vanadium belongs to the group of transition metals and is present in the air and soil contaminants in large urban agglomerations due to combustion of fossil fuels. It forms numerous inorganic compounds (vanadyl sulfate, sodium metavanadate, sodium orthovanadate, vanadium pentoxide) as well as complexes with organic compounds (BMOV, BEOV, METVAN). Depending on the research model, vanadium compou...

Some ascidians (sea squirts) accumulate the transitional metal vanadium in their blood cells at concentrations of up to 350 mM, about 10(7) times its concentration found in seawater. There are approximately 10 different types of blood cell in ascidians. The identity of the true vanadium-containing blood cell (vanadocyte) is controversial and little is known about the subcellular distribution of...

Vanadyl sulfate and sodium orthovanadate in the concentration range between 5 and 50 microM are shown to be mitogenic for quiescent cultures of Swiss mouse 3T3 and 3T6 cells. The compounds caused a striking shift in the dose-response for the effect of serum on [3H]thymidine incorporation and DNA synthesis. In the absence of serum the effect of vanadium was greatly potentiated by insulin. Vanadi...

Vanadium, V, is a redox-sensitive metal that in solution, under aerobic conditions, prevails as the oxyanion vanadate(V). There is little known regarding vanadium toxicity to soil biota, and the present study was set up to determine the toxicity of added vanadate to soil organisms and to investigate the relationship between toxicity and vanadium sorption in soils. Five soils with contrasting pr...

The influence of various preparation methods on the performance of V-Nb-0 catalysts has been investigated. It was found that the activity and selectivity of a vanadium site depend on the nature of the neighbouring atoms. Vanadium neighbours provide activity, while niobium neighbours provide selectivity. Careful preparation of these catalysts ensures a homogeneous distribution and good mixing of...

A creative hydrothermal synthesis method followed by calcination for vanadium nitride (VN) is reported. The oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) study of the catalyst shows that VN possesses a comparable catalytic performance to commercial Pt/C catalyst. The ORR catalytic activity study of vanadium nitride, vanadium carbonitride, and vanadium carbide reveals that tuning anions offers a promising rou...