A novel symbol timing synchronization algorithm based on constant amplitude zero auto correlation (CAZAC) sequences is proposed for coherent optical orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CO-OFDM) systems. The training symbol of the proposed algorithm is comprised of four different parts, utilizing even symmetry property of each part to accomplish timing synchronization. The performance of the proposed algorithm is demonstrated by means of simulations in OFDM and CO-OFDM systems. The proposed algorithm is shown to eliminate the timing sidelobes of Park’s algorithm and has a more accurate timing estimation. In the condition of chromatic dispersion (CD), the timing metric of the proposed method still maintains its peak value at the correct timing point, while the values are almost 0 at all the other positions. Meanwhile, the timing mean square error (MSE) of the proposed algorithm remains around 10^-6.