Organocatalysis has provided a revolution in modern catalysis and much effort has been devoted to invent novel reactivities and reactions and/or improve on past results.Amino acids have “re-attracted” the attention,since they are considered a vast chiral pool for fishing new catalysts.Along these lines,examples from our research will be presented where amino acids and peptides have been employed as catalysts,for example the use of beta-phenylalanine for the Michael reaction between α,α-disubstituted aldehydes and maleimides leading to an one-pot synthesis of chiral lactones.1 Dipeptide thioureas2 and ureas3 were proved excellent organocatalysts for the aldol reaction,while the extension of this work in the use of tripeptides4 as catalysts for the same reaction in aqueous solutions will be discussed.