the chromatographic stationary phases comprise an inorganic carrier onto which has been coated and crosslinked a layer of organic polymer . the inorganic carriers that may be used in the present invention include , but are not necessarily limited to silica , silica gels , glass , carbon bentonite , hydroxyapatite , zirconia , titania and alumina . the preferred carrier is alumina having a known average pore size , known particle size and known surface area . the primary requirement for the inorganic carriers is that they be essentially water insoluble and have sufficient surface area (& gt ; 5 m 2 / g ) for the coating of a sufficient amount of a sufficient amount of thin polymeric film . further details of carrier materials are found in the prior art , as for example u . s . pat . nos . 4 , 786 , 628 , 4 , 822 , 593 , and 4 , 045 , 353 , and the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference or in the book , &# 34 ; packing and stationary phases in chromatographic techniques &# 34 ; edited by k . k . unger ( marcel dekker , 1990 ). the organic polymers employed in the present invention include , but are not necessarily limited to the range of hycar reactive liquid polymers available from b . f . goodrich , inc . ( e . g . hycar 1300x40 , hycar 1300x43 , etc .). the primary practical requirements for the polymers are that they be easily solubilized to facilitate the coating process and that they possess chemical functionalities which allow crosslinking and / or chemical grafting reactions . in order to produce the stationary phases described here , a solution is prepared containing typically 5 - 50 % ( w / w relative to the weight of support being used ) of polymer in a suitable solvent ( e . g . tetrahydrofuran , ethyl acetate ). to the solution is also added any necessary radical initiators or stabilizers at a level of 0 - 13 % w / w . inorganic carrier , such as alumina , is added to the solution in a round - bottomed flask and shaken for several minutes . the solvent is then removed by evaporation at reduced pressure using a rotary evaporator until the material is free - flowing . the polymer - coated support is then subjected to a crosslinking reaction using a free radical initiator ( e . g . dicumyl peroxide ) at elevated temperatures or by use of gamma irradiation from a 60 co source . after crosslinking , the materials are typically washed with 1 % glacial acetic in hexane or ethyl acetate followed by a wash with hexane . the washed material is then dried and packed into columns . specific details for particular stationary phases are included in examples 1 - 7 below . this example describes a process for coating of alumina with poly ( butadiene - acrylonitrile ) by irradiation . poly ( butadiene - acrylonitrile ) ( 25 g , hycar vtbnx ( 1300x43 ), b . f . goodrich co ., cleveland , ohio ) and dicumyl peroxide ( 2 . 5 g , polysciences , inc ., warrington , pa .) were dissolved in 500 ml of ethyl acetate . sonication aided the dissolution of the polymer . the slightly cloudy solution was added to a 1 - l round - bottomed flask containing 250 g of alumina powder ( 8 micron unisphere ® alumina , biotage , inc ., charlottesville , va .) and the suspension was shaken for 15 min . removal of solvent by rotary evaporation at reduced pressure yielded a free - flowing powder . the flask containing the coated powder was placed near a 60 co array for 24 h . at a dosage rate of 2 × 10 5 rad / h . following irradiation , the sample was washed with ˜ 3 ml of a solution of hexane containing 1 % of acetic acid per gram of alumina and then with ˜ 3 ml of hexane per gram of alumina . the product was dried either at reduced pressure to give a free - flowing powder which was used to effect a range of separations by high - performance liquid chromatography as described in examples 2 - 4 . the ethyl acetate of this example can be replaced by other solvents , such as tetrahydrofuran , methyl ethyl ketone , or aromatic solvents , as well known to those skilled in the art . in this example , the exact total radiation dosage is not critical . increasing the total time of irradiation up to 7 days did not affect the subsequent chromatographic performance of the product . other 60 co sources could also be used advantageously . in this example , the solvents used to wash the product can be advantageously replaced by other solvents , such as ethyl acetate , and other solvents suitable for solubilizing poly ( butadieneacrylonitrile ) or dicumyl peroxide and their degradation products . it should be understood that additives other than dicumyl peroxide or no additives may be added to affect the crosslinking step . examples 6 and 8 illustrate that this generalization is possible . crosslinking can be achieved by means other than irradiation , such as thermal or photochemical treatment . example 5 illustrates the use of thermal crosslinking . a 3 . 5 g quantity of poly ( butadiene - acrylonitrile )- coated alumina prepared as in example 1 above was packed into a 4 . 6 mm i . d .× 250 mm stainless steel column using methanol at a pressure of 6000 psi . a test mixture consisting of theophylline , p - nitroaniline , methyl benzoate , phenetole , and o - xylene ( 1 mg / ml each in 50 % aqueous acetonitrile ) was prepared and injected onto the column . the test mixture components were eluted using a mobile phase of 45 % water and 55 % acetonitrile at a flow rate of 0 . 5 ml / min . the efficiency of the column was found to be 35 , 500 plates / meter with an o - xylene retention of 13 . 5 minutes . the ph of the water portion of the mobile phase was raised to 10 . 5 with aqueous ammonia and after operation at this ph for 24 hours the efficiency was found to be 35 , 200 plates / meter and the o - xylene retention 13 . 4 minutes . this represents & lt ; 1 % loss of retention and efficiency . these chromatographic measurements showing the high level of performance of the material at high ph are shown in fig1 a and 1b . the chromatographic performance of the material described in example 2 is further illustrated in figure . this chromatogram shows the separation of a mixture of macrolide antiobiotics and was generated using a mobile phase of 80 % 0 . 02m kh 2 po 4 20 % acetonitrile , apparent ph 10 . 9 and a flow rate of 1 . 2 ml / min . the samples chromatographed are indicated in the figure caption . after operation for 72 hours at ph 10 . 9 , the measured loss of column efficiency was found to be less than 1 %. the same column as was used in example 3 was used for the separation of a set of penicillins ( fig . 3 ) using a mobile phase of 72 % 0 . 015 - m phosphate buffer ( ph 3 . 0 ) and 28 % acetonitrile . thus the invention exhibits good stability over a wide ph range with good separation efficiency . this example describes a process for coating of alumina with poly ( butadiene - acrylonitrile ) by thermal treatment . 1 g of hycar vtbnx ( 1300x43 ) and 0 . 1 q of dicumyl peroxide were dissolved in 30 ml of ethyl acetate . the resulting solution was added to 10 g of 8 micron unisphere alumina in a 100 - ml round - bottomed flask and the suspension was shaken for 15 min removal of solvent by rotary evaporation at reduced pressure yielded a free flowing powder . the powder was heated in an atmosphere of nitrogen at 110 ° c . for 30 minutes an then at 140 ° c . for 3 h . the reaction flask was allowed to cool to room temperature under a positive pressure of nitrogen and then washed and used to effect separations following example 2 . the retention time of o - xylene was 11 min . and the efficiency was 17 , 000 plates / meter . when the same alumina was coated with polybutadiene the retention time of o - xylene was 9 . 6 min . and the efficiency was 12 , 000 plates / meter . the procedure described in example 1 was carried out , except the reactants were 0 . 5 g of poly ( butadiene - acrylonitrile ), 0 . 5 g of allyl methacrylate and 5 g of alumina . the retention time of o - xylene was 14 . 1 min , and the efficiency was 25 , 000 plates / meter . this example showed that dicumyl peroxide may be replaced by other additives . a solution of 2 . 5 g of poly ( butadiene - acrylonitrile ), 0 . 25 g of dicumyl peroxide and 0 . 25 g of divinyl benzene in 175 ml of ethyl acetate was shaken with 25 g of 8 micron alumina powder for 10 min . following removal of the solvent by rotary evaporation at reduced pressure , the material was irradiated using a 60 co source at 1 . 65 × 10 6 rad / h for 24 hr . the material was washed as follows : the sample was slurried in 200 ml of ethyl acetate and sonicated for 10 min . the solvent was removed by filtration using a bchuer funnel . this procedure was repeated and the material was then washed with 150 ml of hexane . the material was packed according to example 2 . the retention time of o - xylene was 16 min . this example 7 shows that the addition of other crosslinking agents can alter the characteristics of the material by altering retention times . hycar is a registered trademark of b . f . goodrich for butadiene homopolymers and butadiene / acrylonitrile copolymers . the isomer content is largely cis / trans with vinyl ( 1 , 2 addition of butadiene ) being 25 % or less . they have reactive groups in both terminal positions of the polymer chain and may have additional reactive groups pendent on the chain . some do not contain solvents or other unreactive components . the designator letter c indicates a carboxyl group , v indicates a vinyl group , a indicates an amine group , t indicates terminal reactive groups , b indicates butadiene , n indicates acrylonitrile and x indicates the presence of pendent reactive groups . the ct series of carboxyl terminated liquid polymers may be considered long chain dicarboxylyic acids having functionalities between 1 . 8 and 2 . 4 . the typical properties are as follows : ______________________________________hycar polymer 1300x8 ctbn 1300x13acrylonitrile % 18 26contentcarboxyl contentacid number 29 32ephr . 052 . 057brookfield viscosity 135 , 000 570 , 000mpa · s or cp , 27 ° solubility parameter 8 . 77 9 . 14based on molar attractionconstantsspecific gravity 0 . 948 . 96025 °/ 25 ° c . fuctionality 1 . 8 1 . 8molecular weight , mn 3 , 600 3 , 200______________________________________ the hycar vinyl terminated ( vt ) liquid polymers have reactive acrylate vinyl groups and can be reacted into systems involving cures by free radical mechanisms . the reactive vinyl group is separate from the cis / trans / vinyl unsaturation contributed by the polymerized butadiene of the polymer backbone . typical properties for the methacrylated polymer is as follows : ______________________________________hycar polymer 1300x43 vtbnxacrylonitrile % 21 . 5boundacid number max . 5brookfield viscosity 425 , 000mpa · s or cp , 27 ° specific gravity . 98125 °/ 25 ° c . solubility parameter 9 . 091______________________________________