A general synthetic route to spiro[2.5]octane-5,7-dione and spiro[3.5]nonane-6,8-dione that involves cyclization of the related acrylates and di-Et acetonedicarboxylate, followed by decarboxylation, has been developed. Compared with previous synthetic methods, the developed protocol avoids the use of column chromatog. in each of the synthetic steps. Therefore, it can be readily scaled-up. The use of di-Et acetonedicarboxylate under mild conditions to build the skeleton of 1,3-cyclohexanedione has proved to be very efficient.