Alkene Reactions: Help with Understanding & Memorizing

[tipton12]

I'm having trouble keeping all these alkene reactions straight (hydroboration, oxymercuration/demurcuration, etc.) is there a useful website or an easier way to categorize/remember which reagents go with a particular reaction? My book isn't much help. Need help!

 

[GoneRogue]

What helped me was simply doing problems, problems, problems. When I did enough and was comfortable (and familiar!), the reagents were a piece of cake to remember. I can't think of any mneumonics or special ways of memorizing the reagents of the reactions, just brute force memorization. I think the most important thing is not memorization, but understanding where, how, and why the reaction is taking place.

 

[movies]

The names should give you a clue! HydroBORation obviously involves some kind of boron species, likewise for oxymercuration. The trick is remembering which one gives the Markovnikov addition and which one gives anti-Markovnikov. The best way that I found to learn this is to learn the mechanisms very well. You should be able to rationalize where the boron or mercury will end up based on the most stable carbocations. Check out the discussions in your textbook!