## 1 Introduction  
_Taxus chinensis_ var. _mairei_ is an evergreen conifer native to China, where it is also referred to as \"Beauteous Taxus\". This plant is a source of active diterpenoids belonging to the taxane class of compounds [1]. The most well-known member of this class is taxol, which is an anti-cancer agent used in the clinic for the treatment of ovarian and breast cancers [2]. With the further study of _Taxus_, some the other bioactive components with human health benefits, such as, polysaccharide and essential oil were found and have attracted considerable attention throughout the world [3, 4]. Recently, the results of numerous reports published have suggested that the polysaccharides from _T. chinensis_ var. _mairei_ possess potent antitumor, antidiabetic, and immunity enhancing activities [3, 5, 6]. Furthermore, the essential oils from _T. chinensis_ var. _mairei_ have been reported to exhibit remedial effects in improving sleep quality, resisting consenescence and stabilizing blood pressure [4]. In light of the notable pharmacological activities of the polysaccharides and essential oils derived from plants belonging to the genus _Taxus_, there is an urgent need for the development of a robust and efficient separation technology to allow them to be studied in greater detail. Unfortunately however, there have been few reports pertaining to the extraction and separation of the polysaccharides or essential oil found in _T. chinensis_ var. _mairei_. The polysaccharides and essential oils of plants have traditionally been extracted in separate processes. Conventional heat reflux extraction (HRE) process has been used for the extraction of polysaccharides from plants belonging to the genus _Taxus_[7]. Microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) has recently been used for the isolation of target ingredients [8; 9]. There are several advantages associated with the use of MAE over traditional extraction methods, including better yields, improved extract quality, shorter extraction time and reduced solvent consumption [10]. The results of several studies have shown that MAE is more effective than conventional techniques for the extraction of polysaccharides from plants [11; 12; 13]. In these cases, the extraction time and levels of solvent consumption were reduced compared with the conventional techniques, whereas the amount of extracted polysaccharide increased. However, the method can only extract polysaccharides. The essential oils of a plant can be isolated by traditional hydrodistillation extraction (HDE) [14] or steam distillation extraction [15]. However, the general application of these traditional techniques has been limited by several shortcomings, including the long extraction times and poor recoveries, making them particularly inefficient [16; 17]. Simultaneous distillation extraction (SDE) using the Likens-Nickerson apparatus effectively combines the advantages associated with liquid-liquid and steam distillation extraction, and its extract efficiency and recovery of volatile compounds was higher than traditional hydrodistillation extraction and steam distillation extraction [18; 19]. Several microwave-assisted distillation techniques have recently also been reported for the extraction of essential oils, with satisfactory results being obtained in all cases [20; 21; 22; 23]. The operation for microwave assisted distillation-solvent extraction of essential oil was developed [24]. However, the operation can only obtain essential oil. The aim of this study was to develop an effective method for the simultaneous extraction of polysaccharides and essential oils from _T. chinensis_ var. _mairei_. Our research group developed a microwave-assisted extraction coupled with hydrodistillation method for simultaneous extraction of essential oils and biphenyl cyclootene lignans from _Schisandra chinensis_ Baill fruits previously [25].