Imidazoles as highly effective heterocyclic corrosion inhibitors for metals and alloys in aqueous electrolytes: A review

Imidazole represents a special class of heterocyclic compounds that possesses several industrial and biological activities. Imidazole and its derivatives are extensively employed as corrosion inhibitors for different metals in different electrolytes. Most of the imidazole based compounds behaved as mixed and interface type corrosion inhibitors and their adsorption mechanism obeyed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. Generally, imidazole and its derivatives interact with metallic surface using electron rich centers. Present article also describes collection of major studies that described the anticorrosive effect of imidazole and its derivatives.