The most important compound of vanadium. Upon heating it can reversibly lose oxygen to the air. Related to this is its ability to catalyse the delivery of oxygen from the air to compounds such as sulfur dioxide, benzene and naphthalene, which is the basis for its industrial use as a
catalyst in the manufacture of sulfuric acid, maleic anhydride and phthalic anhydride, respectively. It is a poisonous orange solid which, because of its high oxidation
state, is both an amphoteric oxide and an oxidising agent.
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