Various cyanomethyleneamino pseudodipeptides were easily prepared in high yield by the Lewis acid catalyzed addition of trimethylsilyl cyanide to unstable aldimine intermediates, obtained from the reaction of N-protected alpha-amino aldehydes with C-protected amino acids. The two possible (R)- and (S)-epimers at the peptide bond surrogate chiral center were obtained. In this thermodynamically controlled synthesis, the absolute configurations of the alpha-amino aldehyde and the amino acid proved to be the main factors determining its stereoselectivity. The new N-Boc- and N-Z-protected pseudodipeptides were deblocked under standard conditions. In spite of the lability of the new peptide bond surrogate psi[CH(CN)NH] in basic medium, high yields of C-deprotected pseudodipeptides were obtained by controlling the saponification conditions of the methyl esters. The use of free alpha-amino acids in the modified Strecker synthesis reported here can be employed as an alternative for the synthesis of C-deprotected cyanomethyleneamino pseudopeptides. The N- or C-elongation of these pseudodipeptides via the DCC method led to the corresponding psi[CH(CN)NH] pseudotripeptides in high yield.