In addition to helping improve the extraction of uranium from seawater, the structural information for both the 1 : 1 oxidovanadium(v)- and 1 : 2 non-oxidovanadium(v)–glutaroimide-dioxime complexes could help to understand and develop vanadium(v) compounds that mimic the effects of insulin in the treatment of diabetes. Here, INS is linked to diabetes mellitus.