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Chromium: Sources, Speciation, Toxicity, and Chemistry

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Chromium in Plants and Environment

Part of the book series: Environmental Science and Engineering ((ESE))

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Abstract

In the environment, chromium is found almost exclusively in the trivalent, 3+, and hexavalent, 6+, oxidation states. Chromium3+ is stable in the presence of water and air; however, chromium6+ as chromate is kinetically stable, but thermodynamically unstable. Chromium has a range of effects in living organisms. In plants, as will be the focus of the following chapters of this work, chromium is a toxin as either Cr3+ or Cr6+. In animals, the status has been highly debated since the element as the trivalent ion was first proposed as an essential element about seventy years ago; however, the element is no longer considered to be essential but may have beneficial pharmacological effects. The modes of Cr3+ transport in animals has recently been elucidated and may provide insight on how the metal ion can be transported in plants. Chromate is toxic and carcinogenic. A focus of the chapter will be on techniques to characterize chromium in mammals in terms of structure and potential function to suggest how the methods cold be extended to plants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, The University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, USA

    John B. Vincent

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  1. John B. Vincent
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Correspondence to John B. Vincent .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biotechnology, Central University of South Bihar, Gaya, Bihar, India

    Nitish Kumar

  2. Institut für Radioökologie Und Strahlenschutz, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Universität, Hannover, Germany

    Clemens Walther

  3. Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, New Delhi, Delhi, India

    Dharmendra K. Gupta

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Vincent, J.B. (2023). Chromium: Sources, Speciation, Toxicity, and Chemistry. In: Kumar, N., Walther, C., Gupta, D.K. (eds) Chromium in Plants and Environment. Environmental Science and Engineering. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-44029-8_3

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