The inhibiting effect of the piperidin-1-yl-phosphonic acid (PPA) and (4-phosphono-piperazin-1-yl) phosphonic acid (PPPA) on the behavior of iron in 3% NaCl media has been examined by electrochemical and gravimetric measurements. Potentiodynamic polarization studies clearly reveal the fact that the addition of increasing concentrations of phosphonic acids moves the corrosion potential towards negative values and reduces the corrosion rate. In uninhibited and inhibited solutions, the increasing of temperature reduces the inhibition efficiency. Changes in impedance parameters (R-t and C-dl) are indicative of adsorption of PPA and PPPA on the metal surface leading to the formation of protective films. Gravimetric measurements reveal that the presence of PPA and PPPA increases the inhibition efficiency by decreasing the corrosion rate. The results obtained by corrosion weight loss tests reveal that adsorption of compounds tested on the ARMCO iron surface obeys to Langmuir adsorption isotherm. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.