Cycloadditions of arylidene imines of α-aminoacidesters to a range of dipolarophiles show substantial rate enhancements in the presence of Bronsted and Lewis acids. For Bronsted acids the rate is related to the pKa of the acid and cycloadditions to reactive dipolarophiles occur at room temperature. For the Lewis acids studied the rate acceleration decreases in the order Zn(OAc)2 > AgOAc > LiOAc >