Table 4.

Summarized key characteristics of oxidative PS degradation. Different characteristics are evaluated between PS20 and PS80 with positive (+) for true, negative (-) for false, (+/-) for controversial (not distinct), or with (n.a.) for not applicable.

Key characteristic	PS20	PS80	References
pH shifts (weakly-buffered systems)	+	+	Donbrow et al. (1978) (Donbrow et al., 1978a)
Preferred degradation of higher-order esters	+	+/-	Kranz et al. (2019) (Kranz et al., 2019), Kranz et al. (2020) (Kranz et al., 2020), Zhang et al., (2017) (Zhang et al., 2017), Borisov et al. (2015) (Borisov et al., 2015), Liu et al. (2022) (Liu et al., 2022a), Zhang et al. (2018) (Zhang et al., 2018), Bensaid et al. (2022) (Bensaid et al., 2022), Lippold et al. (2017) (Lippold et al., 2017), Brovč et al. (2020) (Brovč et al., 2020a)
Species of lower hydrophobicity appearing in the chromatogram	-	+	Kranz et al. (2020) (Kranz et al., 2020), Kranz et al. (2019) (Kranz et al., 2019), Borisov et al. (2015) (Borisov et al., 2015), Lippold et al. (2017) (Lippold et al., 2017), Brovč et al. (2020) (Brovč et al., 2020a), Liu et al. (2022) (Liu et al., 2022a)
Dominant degradation of longer chain fatty acid esters	+	n.a.	Borisov et al. (2015) (Borisov et al., 2015), Zhang et al. (2018) (Zhang et al., 2018)
Competition of protein and PS oxidation	+	+	Brovč et al. (2020) (Brovč et al., 2020a), Bensaid et al. (2022) (Bensaid et al., 2022), Gopalathram et al. (2018) (Gopalrathnam et al., 2018)