text: The order of ligands which possess cis-labilizing effects are as follows:
  CO, AuPPh, H, SnPh, GePh,     SO, NCH CO , NCO  
  Anionic ligands such as F, Cl, OH, and SH have particularly strong CO labilizing effects in  complexes. This is because these ligands will stabilize the 16 e intermediate by electron donation from the p-pi lone pair donor orbital.  Other sulfur-containing ligands, particularly thiobenzoate, are other examples of particularly useful CO cis-labilizing ligands, which can be explained by stabilization of the intermediate that results upon CO dissociation. This can be attributed to the partial interaction of the oxygen from the thiobenzoate and the metal, which can eliminate solvent effects that can occur during ligand dissociation in transition metal complexes.
  Note that the strongest labilizing effects come from ligands that are weak sigma donors with virtually no pi-accepting behavior. The cis effect can be attributed to the role of ligand X in stabilizing the transition state. It has also been determined that labilizing X ligands do in fact strengthen the M-CO bond trans to X, which is hypothesized to be due to the weak pi-accepting and/or sigma donating behavior of ligand X. This lack of strong sigma donation/pi-accepting will allow the CO (a strong pi-acceptor) trans to ligand X to pull electron density toward it, strengthening the M-CO bond. This phenomenon is further supported by the evidence from extensive studies on the trans effect, which in turn shows how ligands that are actually strong sigma donors and pi-acceptors weaken the M-L bond trans to them. Since the cis and trans effects seem to have generally opposite trends, the electronic argument supports both phenomena. Further evidence for cis labilization of CO can be attributed to the CO ligands being in competition for the d, d, and d orbitals. This argument especially holds true when the X is a halogen.