Three new ruthenium complexes with chromanylmethylidene ligands were synthesized and dynamic NMR analysis of these compounds was carried out. The activation energy for the C–Ru rotation was measured for the first time and found to be of ~60 kJ mol–1. The complexes may potentially serve as latent catalysts for olefin metathesis – they promote the simple ring-closing metathesis reactions very slowly at room temperature, but are much more active at slightly elevated temperatures. No asymmetric induction was observed when the chiral α-tocopherol-derived catalyst was used.