Studies completed during the past year were: pressure and temperature effects on retention behavior of ion pairs, fractionation studies of sulfur isotopes in. carbon disulfide, anomolous peak shapes obtained in gas chromatography using liquid crystal stationary phases in an electrostatic field, and the application of a new steric-exclusion packing for molecular-weight fractionation of petroleum crudes. Studies are continuing on the effects of the dead volume of a detector on the peak shape as a functior:' of flow rate and molecular weight of the solute and on basic studies relating to the optimization of chromatographic parameters in supercritical fluid chromatography of large molecules, especially polymers. New studies that have been initiated include: the fractionation and identification of vanadium species in crude oils, the study of recycling chromatography c:at elevated pressures for difficult separations such as those involving isotopes, and the application of gradient techniques in liquid chromatography for the fractionation of polymers. Finally, equipment has been ordered for making solubility studies relating to the precipitation of compounds from geothermal brines, but experiments have not yet begun.