[nitelychos]

so if 1-bromo-3 -chloropropane was allowed to react with one molar equivalent of sodium cyanide in aqueous ethanol. what is the product?
i understand that the nucleophile in this case would be CN- which would substitute the bromine in 1-bromo-3-chloropropane to make it 1-cyano-3-chloropropane, but what does the aqueous ethanol have to do with anything?

[discodermolide]

so if 1-bromo-3 -chloropropane was allowed to react with one molar equivalent of sodium cyanide in aqueous ethanol. what is the product?
i understand that the nucleophile in this case would be CN- which would substitute the bromine in 1-bromo-3-chloropropane to make it 1-cyano-3-chloropropane, but what does the aqueous ethanol have to do with anything?

I would imagine it's for solubility reasons (NaCN). And facilitates the precipitation of NaBr.