Discovery, nuclear properties, synthesis and applications of technetium-101

Technetium-101 (¹⁰¹Tc) has been poorly studied in comparison with other Tc isotopes, although it was first identified over ~80 years ago shortly after the discovery of the element Tc itself. Its workable half-life and array of production modes, i.e., light/heavy particle reactions, fission, fusion-evaporation, etc., allow it to be produced and isolated using an equally diverse selection of chemical separation pathways. The inherent nuclear properties of ¹⁰¹Tc make it important for research and applications related to radioanalytical tracer studies, as a fission signature, fusion materials, fission reactor fuels, and potentially as a radioisotope for nuclear medicine. In this review, an aggregation of the known literature concerning the chemical, nuclear, and physical properties of ¹⁰¹Tc and some its applications are presented. This work aims at providing an up-to-date and first-of-its-kind overview of ¹⁰¹Tc that could be of importance for further development of the fundamental and applied nuclear and radiochemistry of ¹⁰¹Tc.