The corrosion inhibition of mild steel in 1 M HCl by benzylidene-pyridine-2-yl-amine (A), (4-benzylidene)-pyridine-2-yl-amine (B) and (4-chloro-benzylidene)-pyridine-2-yl-amine (C) has been studied at 25 degreesC using electrochemical and weight loss measurements. Polarization curves reveal that the used compounds are mixed type inhibitors. Results show that inhibition efficiency increases when the inhibitor concentration increases. The inhibition efficiency changes with the type of functional groups substituted on benzene ring. The experimentally obtained adsorption isotherms follow the Langmuir equation. The effect of temperature on the corrosion behavior in the presence of 10(-2) M of inhibitors was studied in the temperature range of 2543 degreesC. The associated activation energy of corrosion and other thermodynamic parameters have been determined. It has been found that all those schiff base compounds are excellent inhibitors. Obvious correlation was found between corrosion inhibition efficiency and quantum chemical parameters, using the linear and non-linear QSAR models. The obtained theoretical results have been compared with the experimental results. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.