Organic Chemistry Text Book (CHEM 3401 and 3402)

The addition products formed in reactions of alkenes with mercuric acetate and boron hydrides (compounds shown at the bottom of of the reagent list) are normally not isolated, but instead are converted to alcohols by a substitution reaction. These important synthetic transformations are illustrated for 2-methylpropene by the following equations, in which the electrophilic moiety is colored red and the nucleophile blue. The top reaction sequence illustrates the oxymercuration procedure and the bottom is an example of hydroboration.

The light blue vertical line separates the addition reaction on the left from the substitution on the right. The atoms or groups that have been added to the original double bond are colored orange in the final product. In both cases the overall reaction is the addition of water to the double bond, but the regioselectivity is reversed. The oxymercuration reaction gives the product predicted by Markovnikov's rule; hydroboration on the other hand gives the "anti-Markovnikov" product. Complementary reactions such as these are important because they allow us to direct a molecular transformation whichever way is desired. 
Mercury and boron are removed from the organic substrate in the second step of oxymercuration and hydroboration respectively. These reactions are seldom discussed in detail; however, it is worth noting that the mercury moiety is reduced to metallic mercury by borohydride (probably by way of radical intermediates), and boron is oxidized to borate by the alkaline peroxide. Addition of hydroperoxide anion to the electrophilic borane generates a tetra-coordinate boron peroxide, having the general formula R₃B-O-OH^(-). This undergoes successive intramolecular shifts of alkyl groups from boron to oxygen, accompanied in each event by additional peroxide addition to electron deficient boron. The retention of configuration of the migrating alkyl group is attributed to the intramolecular nature of the rearrangement. 
Since the oxymercuration sequence gives the same hydration product as acid-catalyzed addition of water (see Brønsted acid addition), we might question why this two-step procedure is used at all. The reason lies in the milder reaction conditions used for oxymercuration. The strong acid used for direct hydration may not be tolerated by other functional groups, and in some cases may cause molecular rearrangement (see above).

The addition of borane, BH₃, requires additional comment. In pure form this reagent is a dimeric gas B₂H₆, called diborane, but in ether or THF solution it is dissociated into a solvent coordinated monomer, R₂O-BH₃. Although diborane itself does not react easily with alkene double bonds, H.C. Brown (Purdue, Nobel Prize 1979) discovered that the solvated monomer adds rapidly under mild conditions. Boron and hydrogen have rather similar electronegativities, with hydrogen being slightly greater, so it is not likely there is significant dipolar character to the B-H bond. Since boron is electron deficient (it does not have a valence shell electron octet) the reagent itself is a Lewis acid and can bond to the pi-electrons of a double bond by displacement of the ether moiety from the solvated monomer. As shown in the following equation, this bonding might generate a dipolar intermediate consisting of a negatively-charged boron and a carbocation. Such a species would not be stable and would rearrange to a neutral product by the shift of a hydride to the carbocation center. Indeed, this hydride shift is believed to occur concurrently with the initial bonding to boron, as shown by the transition state drawn below the equation, so the discrete intermediate shown in the equation is not actually formed. Nevertheless, the carbocation stability rule cited above remains a useful way to predict the products from hydroboration reactions. You may correct the top equation by clicking the button on its right. Note that this addition is unique among those we have discussed, in that it is a single-step process. Also, all three hydrogens in borane are potentially reactive, so that the alkyl borane product from the first addition may serve as the hydroboration reagent for two additional alkene molecules.