BSc (Hons) in Applied Chemistry (Salford)

PhD in Organometallic Chemistry (Salford)

CChem FRSC

Sustainable chemistry and energy, f-element compounds, ligand and macrocycle design, supramolecular catalysis, metal recovery and recycling

Head of School

Prof. Jason Love carries out research into the design and synthesis of molecular metal complexes that can promote new and sustainable chemical reactivity and give fundamental insight into how metal compounds assemble and interact with substrates.

He has published 164 peer-reviewed articles and patents, delivered over 90 international, national, and public plenary, keynote, and invited lectures, including ‘Mining the Scrapheap’ at New Scientist Live (2018), and was winner of the 2020 Ekeberg Prize for his work on tantalum recycling.

His current research interests focus on the recovery and recycling of valuable and critical metals, making use of an in-depth chemical understanding to deliver new technologies and processes. This research effort is supported by UKRI and industry funding, most recently through several iCASE awards in metal separations and an EPSRC-GCRF grant for a bilateral, multidisciplinary approach to recycle e-waste to supply valuable metals to jewellers in India and the UK.

He was an expert contributor to a joint DESNZ/DEFRA research analysis of the potential benefits arising from resource efficiency (2023) and to the RSC ESED report on Decarbonisation: materials and circularity challenges for clean technologies. He was also invited to participate in a joint UK Science and Innovation Network – US DoE Critical Materials Innovation Hub R&D Workshop to enhance diplomatic and economic links for a secure and sustainable supply of critical minerals. He has contributed to commentary articles for the New Scientist, RSC Chemistry World, and RSC Voice, and to radio programmes on gold recycling (2020 BBC) and urban mining (2016 BBC, The Naked Scientists, BBC Scotland Brainwaves).

Jason Love obtained his PhD in rhenium polyhydride chemistry 1993 from Salford University working with John Spencer. Following a series of postdoctoral positions with Geoff Cloke (Sussex), Michael Fryzuk (Vancouver), and Martin Schröder (Nottingham) looking at alkene polymerisation, dinitrogen chemistry, and anion binding, he was awarded a lectureship and Royal Society URF (1999-2004) at Sussex in 1999. In 2001, he moved to Nottingham University and then to Edinburgh University as a Senior Lecturer in 2007 and Reader in 2010, and is the current Head of School and Professor of Molecular Inorganic Chemistry. He has researched chemistry across the Periodic Table, focussing at present on small molecule redox catalysis in relation to sustainability, and ligand design strategies for d- and f-element chemistry, supramolecular catalysis and metal recovery processes.