The differential enthalpies, entropies, and free energies of adsorption for the functional groups of substituted hydrocarbons on salt-modified porous silica beads have been determined using elution gas chromatography. The effect of adsorbent surface area and of surface modification on these thermodynamic parameters has been studied to establish optimum conditions for selective separations. Various coating salts are compared and data are presented for the functional group contributions to adsorption on Porasil C modified with Na2S04, NaCI, LiBr, Na3P04, Na2Mo04, NiS04, C0SO4, AI2(S04)3, and Cr2(S04)3. Surface treatment of the porous silica with hexamethyldisilazane eliminates the specific interactions due to olefinic and aromatic pi electron systems. This provides a basis for evaluation of substituent contributions to aromatic pi electron density. Examples of optimized separations of difficult mixtures are presented.Use of salt-modified activated aluminas in gas-solid chromatography, which was discussed initially by Scott (/), has been the subject of several detailed studies (2, 3). Recent investigations (4-7) have established that the interaction between a sórbate molecule and a salt-modified alumina is a combination of nonspecific and specific contributions. This previous work has shown that the overall adsorbentadsorbate interaction is dependent upon the nature of the modifying salt and the adsorbent. As a part of this earlier work, salt-modified porous silica beads have been compared with modified aluminas. The porous silica beads have desirable properties for gas-solid chromatography and provide selective interactions that are different from those for aluminas.