i don't see why not in the case of borohydrides i would use ammonium acetate and a little excess acetic to achieve ph 6 to get a better equilibrium to the shiff's base since aldehydes are more reactive you would want to drive the equilibrium to the right by buffering the ammonia or hydroxylamine with acetic acid since the optimal elimination of water from zie carbinol is obtained at ph range 6 acetic acid buffers these two nicely other wise you just have the ammonia bouncing back and forth as the carbinol/aldehyde rather then forming the more stable shiff's base.
also as the reaction progresses the solution would become increasingly basic so this would mean you would have to attend to the ph of the system.
being more reactive i suspect the reduction rate of the aldehyde occurs more rapidly .
