 This product is structurally related to tetracobalt dodecacarbonyl, theoretically by replacing the methylidyne group by a fourth Co(CO)3 moiety.However, there has been disagreement between theory and experiment with the actual structure of tetracobalt dodecacarbonyl being shown to have three bridging carbonyl groups.Co2(CO)8 a volatile source of cobalt(0), is pyrophoric and releases carbon monoxide upon decomposition.