Al reacts with water to produce aluminium hydroxide and H2 (and this reaction is catalyzed by NaOH). The H2 won't reduce anything without the presence of a catalyst, and any NH3 present won't react more readily with any substrate just because that H2 is evolved.
What compound are you trying to react with what?
ahhh, thank you rhodium. that's all i wanted to know. basically the H2 does nothing, bad or good(without catalyst, that is). that means our little NH3(or H2) generator works like a hot damn. we figured that the Al would be grabbing all the OH's it could, including the one on the ammonia. what we weren't sure about is whether or not the H2 floating around in there was going to clog up the beta position on the bromosafrole(i think i said gamma before) before the H from the NH3 could get there. we're guessing that not having the bromo product in enough MeOH would adversely affect yields.thank you rhodium, you have made our day, and restored our faith (https://www.thevespiary.org/rhodium/Rhodium/hive/hiveboard/picproxie_docs/000122737-file_a82s.gif)
ps. ever heard of anyone using a propane refrigerator as an NH3 generator?