Inhibiting effect of a synthesized organic compound, [3-(4-methoxyphenyl)isoxazole-5-yl]-methanol, on copper in 1 M sulfuric acid solution

[3-(4-Methoxyphenyl)isoxazole-5-yl]-methanol was synthesized and used as an efficient inhibitor to protect copper in 1 M sulfuric acid solution. Corrosion studies were performed by electrochemical techniques, including electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and potentiodynamic polarization (PDP), and quantum chemical calculations. The effect of temperature on the copper corrosion and inhibitor performance was also investigated. The data obtained from the analysis of the polarization curves disclosed that the corrosion current density (Icorr) of the metal dissolution decreased in the presence of inhibitor. This may indicate a reduction in the corrosion rate, resulting from the adsorption of inhibitor molecules on the active sites of the copper surface. Such a result was confirmed by the measured Nyquist diagrams, where total resistance increased with the addition of inhibitor to the medium. It was also found that the inhibitor adsorption on the copper surface obeyed from the Langmuir isotherm, and the adsorption process occurred both physically and chemically.