The (biological) speciation of vanadate(V) as revealed by 51V NMR: A tribute on Lage Pettersson and his work

• Lage Pettersson
• Vanadium-51 NMR
• Speciation in vanadate–bioligand systems

Four decades of research carried out by Lage Pettersson, his group and his coworkers are reviewed, research that has been directed predominantly towards the speciation of vanadate and systems containing, along with vanadate and co-reactants such as phosphate and peroxide, biologically relevant organics. In particular, those organics have been addressed that either are (potential) ligands for vanadate-derived coordination compounds generated at physiological conditions and/or function as constituents in medicinally interesting oxidovanadium compounds. Examples for molecules introduced in the context of the physiological vanadate–ligand interaction include the dipeptides Pro-Ala, Ala-Gly, Ala-His and Ala-Ser, the serum constituents lactate and citrate, and the nucleobases adenosine and uridine. The speciation in the vanadate–picolinate and vanadate–maltol systems is geared towards insulin-enhancing vanadium drugs. The speciation as a function of pH, ionic strength and the concentration of vanadate and the ligand(s) is based on potentiometric and 51V NMR investigations, a methodical combination that allows reliable access to composition, formation constants and, to some extent, also structural details for the manifold of species present in aqueous media at physiological pH and beyond. The time frame 1971 to 2014 is reviewed, emphasizing the interval 1985 to 2006, and thus focusing on biologically interesting vanadium systems. Figurative representations from the original literature have been included.

The article provides an overview of the work of Lage Pettersson († 2013) on the pH and concentration-dependent speciation of systems composed of vanadate and biologically/medicinally relevant ligands such as dipeptides (e.g. alanyl-histidine, Ah), nucleotides, lactate, citrate, maltol and picolinate, as revealed by 51V NMR plus potentiometry.Figure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide