A mixture of iron powder and catalytic palladium on activated carbon has been developed for reductive amination of various aromatic aldehydes, including 2-pyridinecarboxaldehyde, in water under CO2 atmosphere. The reversible reaction of CO2 with water could form carbonic acid and hydrogen transfer from water to Pd(O) took place with the presence of iron powder, leading to formation of high-active Pd hydrides for the reductive amination process. On the other hand, the reaction system could be inherently neutralized by ready removal of CO2, thus resulting in facile post-processing. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.