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Four commercial polymer supports are compared in this article: Chromosorb T, Soreflon 5.A., Voltalef 300 LD and Fluoropak 80. This study is divided into three parts: physical measurements, gas-solid and gas-liquid chromatography and activity coefficient determinations. Physical data include specific area determinations, porosity and electron microscopy measurements. They show big differences in the various materials, some of them showing a very similar texture to that of silica supports commonly used in gas-liquid chromaaography. Separations using gas liquid and gas-solid chromatography show the support surface activity in relation to the solutes being examined. The variation in activity coefficients also confirms the support influence especially for lower loadings of stationary phase. Finally, this article shows that the choice of the support must be made in accordance with the type of analysis to be performed; i.e. Chromosorb T support should be used in separating the MoF6−UF6 mixture whereas Voltalef 300 LD support should be used for compounds with a shorter elution time. more...