Well I sure ain't no expert in this area, but, this reaction might have smashed the linear response theory model that states that such a thing can't happen in a liquid environment, but as for running against Newton's third law, it just does not seem so.
It seems to me that as the central molecule spins displacing water molecules in all directions it would be experiencing an equal force from all directions. In other words it does not move because the displaceing water molecules affect it equally from all directions....
