Oxidation by just adding water?

[Bigbirdo]

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Call me forgetful, I really don't remember seeing this reaction anywhere from my chad notes... I never learned about this reaction in class either. Can someone tell me what reaction this is so I read about it from my textbook? Are there other reactions that oxidizes by adding just water?

 

[kms100]

It's the hydrolysis of a nitrile. The nucleophile is water, but it's a weak nucleophile so an acid is needed to protonate before the attack. This site explains it well with the mechanism http://www.chem.ucalgary.ca/courses/351/Carey5th/Ch20/ch20-3-5-1.html