A series of ruthenium complexes [(eta(6)-p-cymene)RuCl(L)] [ligands L incorporate an azo group (1-5) or an imino group (6-7)] have been synthesized and studied as olefin isomerization catalyst with allylbenzene and 1-octene as model substrates. Temperature and catalyst/substrate mol ratio have been taken into account as parameters to optimize the isomerization reaction conditions. By using H-1, C-13 NMR, FT-IR and microanalysis, the new complexes have been characterized and the molecular structure of complex 4 has been determined by crystal structure determination.