Question

Chromium(IV) reagents are known to be good oxidizing agents. However, chromium(IV) poses several health and environmental hazards. In a well-written paragraph, describe some of the health and environmental hazards of chromium(IV). Cite sources if applicable.

Answer 1

The Chromium (IV) reagents are rare. Some of them are the tetrahalides CrF4, CrCl3, CBr4 which are susceptible to disproportionation and react with water. This disproportion can produce VI compound which are known to be very toxic because they are strong oxidants and can damage the cell walls.. On the other hand Chromium(IV) is a reactive intermediate in most systems involving reduction of chromium (VI) to chromium(III) and it is speculated that this intermediate species binds to DNA. Any specie that binds to DNA can be considered as carcinogenic and genotoxic.

Sources : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chromium_toxicity

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/ja00750a024