Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were used to evaluate the capability of Glutamine (Gln) and its derivative chemicals as inhibitors for the anti-corrosive behavior of iron. The current work is devoted to scrutinizing reactivity descriptors (both local and global) of Gln, two states of neutral and protonated. Also, the change of Gln upon the incorporation into dipeptides was investigated. Since the number of reaction centers has increased, an enhancement in dipeptides’ inhibitory effect was observed. Thus, the adsorption of small-scale peptides and glutamine amino acids on Fe surfaces (1 1 1) was performed, and characteristics such as adsorption energies and the configuration with the highest stability and lowest energy were calculated. Based on previous researches, it is understood that the adsorption of dipeptides on the aforementioned moieties has a chemical nature. The protonation of configuration leads to an increase in the amount of energy of adsorption on the surface of metal among the inhibitors. Theoretically speaking, it is more likely for peptides to adsorb on the surface of iron, and this fact reveals that these moieties are highly effective in terms of inhibitive applications. According to the obtained findings, small peptides can be used as favorable “green” corrosion inhibitors.
