Benzotriazole (BTAH) is an excellent inhibitor for the corrosion of copper and many of its alloys in unpolluted media. Protection is attributed to the formation of a film of Cu(I)BTA. Injection of sulfide ions into a benzotriazole inhibited salt water damages the protective Cu(I)BTA film very rapidly, increases the corrosion rate and leads to the formation of copper sulfide. This effect is quite marked at a sulfide concentration as low as 10(-5) M (about 0.3 ppm sulfur) in the presence of 10(-2) M BTAH, which is 1000-fold greater than that of the sulfide ion. The intensity of sulfide attack increases with its concentration. Prolonged pre-passivation of copper in the BTAH protected medium even at high concentration does not markedly improve the resistance of the protective film to sulfide attack. This finding is contrary to a well-documented phenomenon in unpolluted media where the inhibiting efficiency of BTAH increases with the time of immersion and the concentration of the inhibitor. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) reveals the presence of both sulfide and BTAH on the corroded surface indicating that sulfide attack is localized. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.