Recent advances in polysaccharide extraction: Mechanisms, hybrid strategies, and emerging technologies

Polysaccharides are increasingly valued in the food and pharmaceutical sectors for their bioactivities and functional properties. Efficient extraction from complex biological matrices remains a major barrier to both research and manufacturing. This review critically summarizes recent advances in green technologies for polysaccharide extraction and fractionation. The covered approaches include field assisted processes, enzyme based treatments, and physicochemical separation platforms. Mechanistic understanding is emphasized, with a focus on cavitation, electroporation, and mass transfer enhancement. The effects of operating conditions on yield, structural integrity, and bioactivity are examined. Challenges and knowledge gaps that hinder practical implementation are highlighted. Future work should prioritize standardized structure function evaluation, scalable process design, and solvent and energy efficient integration. This review consolidates mechanistic and practical evidence to support rational method selection and to improve the reproducibility of bioactive polysaccharide production.