Acylation of 3,4,7,8-tetramethylglycoluril1 (1) provides the monoacyl derivative 3 which can be acylated further with LDA and acyl chlorides. The resulting symmetric or asymmetric diacyl derivatives 4 undergo efficient base-catalyzed acyl transfer to provide 2-(acylacyl)glycolurils 5,6. Thus, 1 acts as a template to allow facile condensations between acyl units.