Imidazole and its derivatives as corrosion inhibitors

In recent times, corrosion of metals and alloys is one of the serious, challenging, and damaging phenomena that are related to safety and enormous economic losses. In some industrial cleaning processes, corrosion damages become more serious where metallic materials are permitted for their surface treatment for their further processing and applications. During these industrial processes, most of the organic compounds are used as corrosion inhibitors. These organic compounds containing heteroatoms, for example O, N, P, and S, have been verified theoretically and practically to behave as effective corrosion inhibitors in a broad range of aggressive solutions. Usually, heterocyclic organic corrosion inhibitors adsorb on the metallic surface and form a protective layer that isolates the metals from the surrounding corrosive atmosphere and protects them from corrosion. Imidazole is a nitrogenous heterocyclic compound that possesses various biological activities and industrial applications. The kinds of a literature survey of this chapter described the corrosion inhibition properties of imidazole and its derivatives on the various metals and alloys in different electrolytic solutions. Most of the imidazole and its derivatives behaved as mixed-type corrosion inhibitors and their adsorption on the metallic surface followed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. Commonly, these types of inhibitors interact with the metal surface using the electron-rich centers.