Abstract A Schiff base, known in the literature as a corrosion inhibitor for steel in acidic solution, is shown to hydrolyse in aqueous solution. It appears that the imine group present in this class of molecules is an unstable linkage and the hydrolysis reaction is both acid-catalysed and base-catalysed and is the reverse of the condensation reaction required to synthesize the Schiff base. Measurement of the rate of corrosion of carbon steel in 1 M hydrochloric acid shows that the Schiff base, and its hydrolysis products have similar inhibition efficiency when at similar molar concentration. This suggests that the inhibition imparted by Schiff base may be entirely due to the products of its hydrolysis under acid conditions. We also report here that a derivative of the Schiff base obtained by reduction shows higher corrosion inhibition efficiency and is not degraded by hydrolysis and provides a much more efficient corrosion inhibitor in 1 M HCl solution relative to the Schiff base itself.

中文翻译：

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水解降解席夫碱缓蚀剂及其对钢在盐酸中缓蚀效率的影响

摘要 文献中已知作为酸性溶液中钢的腐蚀抑制剂的席夫碱在水溶液中会水解。似乎存在于这类分子中的亚胺基团是不稳定的键，水解反应是酸催化和碱催化的，是合成席夫碱所需的缩合反应的逆反应。碳钢在 1 M 盐酸中的腐蚀速率测量表明，当摩尔浓度相似时，席夫碱及其水解产物具有相似的缓蚀效率。这表明席夫碱的抑制作用可能完全是由于其在酸性条件下水解的产物。