Polysaccharides are the most abundant natural biopolymers on the earth and are widely used in food, medicine, materials, cosmetics, and other fields. The physicochemical properties of polysaccharides such as particle size and molecular weight often affect their practical applications. In recent years, asymmetrical flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) has been widely used in the separation and characterization of polysaccharides because it has no stationary phases or packing materials, which reduces the risk of shear degradation of polysaccharides. In this review, the principle of AF4 was introduced briefly. The operation conditions of AF4 for the analysis of polysaccharides were discussed. The applications of AF4 for the separation and characterization of polysaccharides from different sources (plants, animals, and microorganisms) over the last decade were critically reviewed.

多糖是地球上最丰富的天然生物聚合物，广泛用于食品，药品，材料，化妆品和其他领域。多糖的物理化学特性（例如粒径和分子量）通常会影响其实际应用。近年来，非对称流场流分馏（AF4）由于没有固定相或填充材料而被广泛用于多糖的分离和表征，从而降低了多糖剪切降解的风险。在本文中，简要介绍了AF4的原理。讨论了AF4分析多糖的操作条件。AF4在分离和表征不同来源（植物，动物，