Pelletized chromotography media

1. A pellet of chromatography media of agarose, dextran or acrylamide/azlactone copolymer characterized by a coherent aggregate of distinct beads having a capacity to resist a force, as demonstrated by a Schleuinger Pharmatron hardness of at least about 2 Kilo Ponds, and capable of being rapidly hydrated on addition of water to form a gel where said media has been derivatized with a ligand.

2. The pellet of claim 1 where said ligand is selected from the group consisting of Protein L, Protein A, Protein G, streptavidin, glutathione.

3. The pellet of claim 2 where said media is cross-linked agarose and is chelated with nickel.

4. The method of using a pelletized chromatography media of agarose, dextran or acrylamide/azlactone copolymer characterized by a coherent aggregate of distinct beads having a capacity to resist a force, as demonstrated by a Schleuinger Pharmatron hardness of at least about 2 Kilo Ponds, including the step of rapidly hydrating the media to form a gel.

5. The method of claim 4 where the media is hydrated with a fluid selected from the group consisting of water and an aqueous buffer selected based on the desired chromatographic application.

6. The method of claim 5 where the fluid for hydration is water.

7. The method of claim 5 where hydration of the media is complete within 120 seconds.

8. The method of hydrating a pellet consisting essentially of an aggregate of distinct beads of a chromatography media composed of crosslinked agarose, dextran or acrylamide/azlactone where the pellet is coherent and capable of resisting force, as demonstrated by a Schleuinger Pharmatron hardness of at least about 2 Kilo Ponds, including the step of adding water to the pellet which hyrdates within 120 seconds to form a gel wherein said beads are swollen and substantially uniformly dispersed.

9. The method of claim 8 where said media is cross-linked agarose and further comprising the step of chelating the media with nickel.