A systematic study to investigate the solvation of a single NaOH molecule by a step-wise addition of water molecules (up to 10) is carried out within a gradient corrected density functional formalism. It is shown that the dissociation of a single NaOH demands a minimum of five water molecules. The associated electronic properties, infrared spectra and reactivity of the NaOH(H 2 O) 5 complex is also studied for a better understanding of the solvation process. The outcome of the study could be an important advancement in understanding of various chemical processes involved in the proton transfer, biological reactions, atmospheric science etc.