We report the very easy preparation of novel peptides 6a-n as represented by CF 3 CH 2 (l)Phe(l)IleOtBu (6a), a prospective antitumor compound. Peptides such as 6a are directly obtained via standard chemistry from a novel class of amino acids, N α -trifluoroethyl amino acids 4. In fact, unexpectedly, the N α -1,1,1-trifluoroethyl substitution completely deactivates the α-nitrogen. That is, compounds 4 behave exactly like N α -protected amino acids, and take part in standard peptide synthesis accordingly. Representative compounds 4a-c are prepared by reaction of commercial amino acid t-butyl esters 2a-c with 1eq iodonium salt 1 in dichloromethane/water at 22 o C in 1h or less. The reaction is promoted by NaHCO 3 (1.5 eq). The intermediate N α -1,1,1-trifluoroethyl t-butyl esters 3a-c are hydrolyzed and separated from coproducts at the same time by treatment with aqueous HCl at 22 o C. Evaporation of the acid extracts provides analytically pure 4a-c in 78-98% yields.