Corrosion Science 60 (2012) 3

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Corrosion Science
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/corsci

Response and contribution to the comments by G. Shama on the paper entitled Drugs: A review of promising novel corrosion inhibitors
Gkhan Gece
Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Architecture and Engineering, Bursa Technical University, Osmangazi, 16200 Bursa, Turkey

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a b s t r a c t
This paper is a response and contribution to the comments by G. Shama on my recent review article entitled Drugs: A review of promising novel corrosion inhibitors, which also offers a welcome opportunity to further clarify misunderstanding and interpretations. 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Article history: Available online 5 April 2012 Keywords: A. Acid solutions C. Acid corrosion C. Acid inhibition

I am grateful for the considered, thorough and challenging comment on my recent review paper [1]. Such exchange of ideas will further the understanding of the process and problems associated with the exploitation of drugs for corrosion inhibition amongst readers and I consider it appropriate to reply in similar fashion. I largely agree with the concerns raised by Shama in his comments on potential risk of the introduction of pharmaceuticals into the environment through anthropogenic sources. My intention was not, however, to belittle a global problem resulting from the pressure of antibiotic usage, or to connive the consequences of pollution by antibiotic resistance genes. In order to avoid digressing too far from the central theme of the review, I particularly refrained from commenting extensively on appreciable risks of drugs either to human or environmental health, except when drawing attention to how pharmaceuticals can be conclusively linked to the eco-friendly corrosion inhibitor classication. On the other hand, as documented [25], there is insufcient information available at present to reach a nal conclusion on the signicance and impact of the presence of resistant bacteria in the environment which would allow for the assessment of the potential risks related, for instance, to human health and ecosystem functions. Currently, it is thought that the input of antibiotics in general as well as from hospitals seems to be of minor importance, at least in terms of resistance [4]. Surely there is a risk at the cost of speeding up the development of antibiotic resistance, just as Shama warns. But I believe this task cannot be delegated to environmental risk specialists only, and after observing successful results achieved in the different applications of corrosion

inhibition (e.g. the reader is encouraged to read a very recent paper of Sobhi et al. [6] on the use of Viagra for corrosion inhibition of carbon steel in HCl solutions), have expectations that the inclusion of corrosion scientists in some way could contribute or impact upon the economic and environmental sustainability of both pharmaceutical and manufacturing industries. It seems likely that the issue would not be resolved in the near future due to the fact that the science and technology required to fully assess this risk is still in the early stages of development. More research is needed to increase our knowledge and understanding of the fate of drugs in surface waters, their products of degradation, and the complex issues brought about by possible chemical interactions. References
[1] G. Gece, Drugs: a review of promising novel corrosion inhibitors, Corros. Sci. 53 (2011) 38733898. [2] C.G. Daughton, T.A. Ternes, Special report: pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment: agents of subtle change?, Environ Health Perspect. 107 (1999) 907938. [3] V.L. Cunningham, S.P. Binks, M.J. Olson, Human health risk assessment from the presence of human pharmaceuticals in the aquatic environment, Regul. Toxicol. Pharm. 53 (2009) 3945. [4] K. Kmmerer, Antibiotics in the aquatic environment a review Part II, Chemosphere 75 (2009) 435441. [5] G.D. Wright, Antibiotics: a new hope, Chem. Biol. 19 (2012) 310. [6] M. Sobhi, M. Abdallah, K.S. Khairou, Sildenal citrate (Viagra) as a corrosion inhibitor for carbon steel in hydrochloric acid solutions, Monatsh. Chem. (2012), http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00706-011-0710-4.

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E-mail address: gokhangc@gmail.com 0010-938X/$ - see front matter 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.corsci.2012.03.048