Novel macrocyclic diene ketone compounds useful as fragrance materials are described having the following general formula (I): where R1, R2, R3 and R4 are each either a hydrogen atom or a C1 to C4 alkyl, a is the integer 1 or 2 and b is an integer in a range from 1 to 6. Novel pathways are described for synthesizing these macrocyclic diene ketones, as well as saturated and mono-unsaturated macrocyclic ketones having the following general formula (IV): where R1, R2, R3 and R4 are each independently a hydrogen atom or a C1 to C4 alkyl, a is the integer 1 or 2 and b is an integer in a range from 1 to 6.