Review: Spectroscopic studies of oxovanadium coordination compounds

In this review we present selected examples of our studies of oxovanadium(IV) and oxovanadium(V) complexes relevant for the bioinorganic chemistry of vanadium. Some of the investigated complexes are good models for different steps of vanadium metabolism or for a better understanding of the structural and electronic peculiarities of the coordination spheres of these oxocations in biomolecules. The investigated systems include ligands such as nucleotides, carbohydrates, phosphates, amino acids, oxine derivatives, porphine-like cores and other simple organic and inorganic ligands. All these complexes have been systematically investigated by means of vibrational (infrared and Raman) and electronic spectroscopy and, in some cases, also by thermal and electrochemical behavior. The potentialities and possibilities of the spectroscopic methodologies are illustrated and discussed and some general trends, useful for the structural characterization of these and similar systems, are emphasized.