When it comes to Al/Hg Os' is da man. This Bee knows Jack 'bout the nitro variation, but I had thought of a variation to Os's variation which involved pie tins cut into long strips then bent into W or even M shapes. They would be evenly spread in the flask/PP garden sprayer (hint) and so stirring may not be needed (stuff fizzes). An excess of Al would not harm the outcome because it won't all be reduced to Al oxide. And 'cause stirring may not be ness. this could be done in a sealed system (pressure). What do you think?
The purpose of stirring is not to evenly distribute the foil, but to increase the Reynolds Number, thus increasing the mass transfer coefficient of the reactants to the metal surface, thus increasing the rate of reaction, thus increasing yields. ;) This probably makes no sense to anyone who is not an engineer, but trust me on this one. Basically, stirring increases the rate that the reactants can diffuse to the metal surface.
And while you guys fire up your 20 L flasks to process a mole of ketone, true believers in the way of Os do that reaction in a 2L flask, and don't care if it runs a overnight or even a whole day.
I got a better one:
ketone + MeAm + Pd/C + KHCOO
Catalytic Transfer Hydrogenation
Aluminum not required