Olefin metathesis has been one of the most important methods to construct carbon-carbon double bonds, which has been enabled by development of well-defined transition-metal catalysts (e.g. [L 2 X 2 Ru=CHR], L=PCy 3 ). A significant gain to increase the catalyst stability and activity was achieved after replacing a single PCy 3 ligand of L 2 X 2 Ru=CHR (L=PCy 3 ) with cyclic biamino cabene, such as 1,3-dimesityl-4,5-dihydroimidazol-2-ylidene (H 2 IMes). In 2005, Bertrand et al. discovered a novel ligand-yclic(alkyl)(amino)cabene (CAAC), which displayed more electron donating and more electrophilic in comparison with cyclic diamino cabene. It is logic that more electronegative amino group is replaced by alkyl group in CAAC. Furthermore, a quaternary carbon at the α position of carbene center of CAAC may make a big difference from cyclic diamino cabene, which can change the steric environment of CAAC easily and creat a chiral center next to the carbene. In this research prospect, synthesis, property and application of CAACs in olefin metathesis catalysis are introduced. Finally, the issues remained in this research area are summarized and an outlook for the development in the future is given.