Hydrolysis

Whenever water reacts with another chemical compound, the process is

called hydrolysis. Hydrolysis differs somewhat from hydration, although
the two can occur together. Hydration is the bonding of whole water
molecules to an ion (a charged atom or molecule), usually a metal ion.
Hydrolysis, on the other hand, involves an actual chemical reaction of the
water molecule itself with another reactant. Aluminum ion, for example,
can bond with six water molecules to form the hydrated aluminum ion. In
water, however, the hydrated ion can undergo hydrolysis; some of the
hydrated molecules contribute a hydrogen ion to the solution, making
the solution acidic.

Solutions of non-hydrated ions often become either acidic or basic because

of hydrolysis, too. In general, negative ions (anions) form basic solutions
if they hydrolyze, because the negative charge on the ion attracts the
positively charged hydrogen ion (H+) away from water, leaving the basic
hydroxide ion (OH-) behind. Similarly, positive ions (cations) form acidic
solutions if they hydrolyze, because the positive charge on the ion attracts
the negatively charged hydroxide ion away from water, leaving the acidic
hydrogen ion behind. Hydrolysis of these ions only occurs, however, if the
ion originally came from a weak acid or base, or the salt of a weak acid or
base. (A salt is an ionic chemical compound derived from an acid or base,
often as the result of a neutralization reaction.) Ions do not hydrolyze if
they are from strong acids or basessuch as chloride ion from hydrochloric
acid or sodium ion from sodium hydroxide (a base)or their salts.