Chitosan-Based Green and Sustainable Corrosion Inhibitors for Carbon Steel

Development of non-toxic and environmental friendly corrosion inhibitors is highly desirable owing to the increasing demands of “green chemistry” throughout the world. In view of these several forms of green corrosion inhibitors such as drugs or medicines, plant extracts, ionic liquids and synthetic inhibitors derived from multicomponent reactions (MCRs) and mechanochemical mixing are being employed. Nowadays, MCRs in association with microwave and ultrasound irradiations represent one of the best green strategies. Natural polysaccharides particularly chitosan derivatives gained substantial advancement. Chitosan and its several derivatives have been employed effective as corrosion inhibitors for metals and alloys in various aggressive media. The present chapter features the collection of major works that have been published on the inhibition effect of chitosan and its derivatives. The utilization of the chitosan and its derivatives as effective corrosion inhibitors is based on the fact that they contain several polar functional groups such as amino (-NH2), hydroxyl (-OH) and acetyl (-COCH3) groups that effectively bind with metallic surface and behave as adsorption centers.