The present invention relates to the metathesis synthesis of insect attractant pheromones or their components, such as E-5-decenyl acetate, the main component of peach resin moth pheromone; (5R, 6S)-6-acetoxy-5 - hexadecadienal (hexadecadienal), a mosquito egg-laying sex attractant pheromone; or E9, Z11-hexadecadienal (hexadecadienal), a larval moth of the hickory moth Pheromones; 9-tetradecenyl formate, an analogue of the diamondback moth (DBM) pheromone; 11-tetradecenyl acetate, an Omnivorous Leafroller (OLR) pheromone; E-4-Tridecenyl acetate, a tomato Main constituents of pheromones from boxworm moth (TPW); E, E-8,10-dodecadienol, codling moth (CM) pheromone. The synthesis preferably employs Class I-IV metathesis catalysts, requires few reaction steps, employs commonly commercially available starting materials, and has relatively short processing times. These syntheses have good yields and do not require expensive or sophisticated equipment. The present invention also provides an inexpensive route to produce ω-haloalkenols, which are easily converted to ω-haloalkanols under conventional hydrogenation methods, by cross-metathesis of α-ω-diacetoxyalkenes and α-ω-dihalides.