text: Most metal carbonyl complexes contain a mixture of ligands. Examples include the historically important IrCl(CO)(P(CH)) and the antiknock agent (CHCH)Mn(CO). The parent compounds for many of these mixed ligand complexes are the binary carbonyls, those species of the formula [M(CO)], many of which are commercially available. The formulae of many metal carbonyls can be inferred from the 18-electron rule.