Vanadium, named after the Scandinavian goddess of beauty and fertility, Vanadis (Freyja), with the atomic number 23, is the 22nd most abundant element in Earth's crust, being pervasively available in soil, crude oil, water, some living organisms (ascidians, a few fungi) and the vanadium-dependent enzymes nitrogenases and haloperoxidases whose actions involve biological catalytic processes. Besides being a biologically relevant element, its compounds have broad applications in catalysis. Accordingly, many original research articles and a considerable number of reviews on the application of vanadium compounds in catalysis have been published over the past few years. However, in spite of the availability of various books on Vanadium Chemistry, Bioinorganic Chemistry, Biochemistry and Biology, with applications in pharmacology and in industry, a book focused on Vanadium in Catalysis has not yet appeared.

This book intends to fill this gap and its cover image is inspired from the goddess Vanadis and on the Amanita mushroom, a natural source of Amavadin, a non-oxido vanadium complex with an unveiled intriguing catalytic activity.

Vanadium Catalysis provides a booming and broad area of research, and a book therein, contributing to the systematisation of the knowledge on this inter- and transdisciplinary field, namely covering chemical, biological and photochemical perspectives (either experimental or theoretical ones), appears to be quite timely.

This book addresses relevant topics on current Vanadium Catalysis, comprising 25 chapters organised in three parts following an Introduction: Inorganic Catalysis (with fourteen chapters), Organometallic Catalysis (five chapters) and Biochemical and Biomimetic Catalysis (also with five chapters). It covers extensive areas with well-documented research on relevant vanadium systems in catalysis, including chemical and biological and their respective models, addressing also the mechanisms involved, by gathering contributions of well recognised authors from various countries in Europe, Asia and America. A detailed description of the contents of the book, including a brief summary of each chapter, is found in the Introduction (Chapter 1).

This book should provide reference documents for academic staff, students of various university levels and researchers at academia and in the industry. Hopefully it will be influential towards the introduction or establishment of interdisciplinary approaches, leading to new scientific developments in the use of vanadium in catalytic processes.

We hope readers will enjoy this book as much as we did while editing it, and will consider it as an inspiring source for future studies in the field of Vanadium Catalysis which is rapidly growing and promising, highly deserving further exploration.

We are thankful to all the authors for their worthy contributions, to the Royal Society of Chemistry for publishing the book, kind assistance and understanding along the arduous coronavirus pandemic, as well as the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT), Portugal, through the 2020-2023 multiannual funding to Centro de Química Estrutural (project UIDB/00100/2020).

Manas Sutradhar

José Armando L. da Silva

Armando J. L. Pombeiro