A novel [3-(4-methoxyphenyl)isoxazole-5-yl]-methanol compound: synthesis and effect on corrosion inhibition of 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 (Gaussian). 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. Langmuir’s adsorption isotherm was confined as best fitted isotherm describes the physical-chemical adsorption capability of the inhibitor on the copper surface. The results revealed that [3-(4-Methoxyphenyl)isoxazole-5-yl]-methanol could effectively improve the corrosion resistance of copper. The theoretical calculation of quantum chemical demonstrated the experimental findings.