Akop Y. answered 10/31/21
A PhD chemist teaching chemistry in a practical and simple way
Magic acid, also known as a super acid can stabilize carbonium ions, which means that if you take a linear alkane such has hexane, a rearrangement can take place after hexane generates a secondary carbocation and after the rearrangement a tertiary carbocation would form, then the reaction would quench with hydrogen to generate a branched alkane. The magic acid is typically a combination of SbF5 and H2SO4