Vanadium: from its discovery to its role in life

Abstract

Vanadium is a chemical element with a unique history and enviable name. It was discovered in the old mining town of Zimapán, Mexico, by Andrés Manuel Del Río, and rediscovered in Sweden by Nils Gabriel Sefström, who named it “vanadium”, after the Nordic goddess Vanadis (an epithet of Freyja). Vanadium is the 22nd most abundant element in the Earth’s crust and the second-to-most common trace metal in seawater. It is part of some minerals such as vanadinite, Pb5(VO4)3Cl, and has been discovery in the active fumaroles of the Colima volcano crater in Mexico. The role of vanadium in biological systems has caught the interest of the scientific community due to some striking features. There are exotic organisms that accumulate it in high quantities such as asicidas, animals which belongs to the same phylogenetic group those human beings, and the Amanita muscaria mushrooms. Vanadium is also found in the FeVco cluster from Azobacter vinelandii´s nitrogenase, metaloenzyme capable of reducing nitrogen gas (N2) to ammonium ions (NH4 +), and in the vanadiumdependent haloperoxidases, which are involved in atmospheric ozone depletion. Although vanadium´s anti-diabetic activity has been well established for its +4 and +5 oxidation states, there is currently no vanadium-based medication for the treatment of diabetes mellitus, a metabolic condition that affects just under 500 million people worldwide.