Vanadium: Biochemical And Molecular Biological Approaches

Vanadium Hitoshi Michibata Editor Vanadium Biochemical and Molecular Biological Approaches 123 Editor Hitoshi Michibata Department of Biological Science Graduate School of Science Hiroshima University 1-3-1 Kagamiyama Higashihiroshima 739-8526 Japan [email protected] ISBN 978-94-007-0912-6 e-ISBN 978-94-007-0913-3 DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-0913-3 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2011937453 © Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Preface Publishing the book “Vanadium: Biochemical and Molecular Biological Approaches” is particularly timed. It becomes exactly 100 years since Professor Martin Henze first reported high levels of vanadium in the blood cells of an ascidian (tunicate) collected in the Gulf of Naples in 1911. Subsequently, his discovery had a great influence not only on analytical, natural product, organic and inorganic chemistry but also on physiology, biochemistry and molecular biology. Vanadium, atomic number 23, is one of the most interesting transition elements. Average of its crustal abundance is estimated to be 100 g/g, which is approximately twice that of copper, 10 times that of lead, and 100 times that of molybdenum (Nriagu 1998). In seawater, vanadium is dissolved in the average concentration of approximately 35 nM in the C5 oxidation state (Cole et al. 1983, 1984). Vanadium is also known to be present in crude oil, coal and tar sand. Western Venezuelan crude oil contains approximately 257 mg/g of vanadium. Vanadium can be recovered as V2 O5 from smoke dust after the combustion of oil (Nriagu 1998). Approximately 50% of the vanadium in oil is in the form of a vanadyl (VIV O) porphyrin complex, which resembles chlorophyll and hemoglobin (Barbooti 1989). As far as the biochemical aspects, in the 1930s many analytical chemists analyzed the vanadium content of various organisms. In 1933, Hans Bortels suggested that vanadium compounds substituting for molybdenum compounds have a positive effect on nitrogen fixation by Azotobacter. In the 1970s, the biological signific