Self-healing and anticorrosion coatings based on responsive polymers with metal coordination bonds

•A novel coating is fabricated using polymer conjugates complexing an inorganic corrosion inhibitor.•The coating exhibits a remarkable healing efficiency of ∼ 98 %, relying on metal–ligand interactions.•The corrosion rate of the coating is ∼ 31 times lower than the coatings without metal coordination bonds.•The combination of organic and inorganic inhibitors provided an excellent anticorrosion performance.