The lipopolysaccharide of Citrobacter freundii O22 (strain PCM 1555) was degraded under mild acidic conditions and the O-polysaccharide released was isolated by gel chromatography. Sugar and methylation analyses along with (1)H and (13)C NMR spectroscopy, including two-dimensional (1)H,(1)H ROESY and (1)H,(13)C HMBC experiments, showed that the repeating unit of the O-polysaccharide has the following structure: alpha-Abep 1 -->3 --> 2)-alpha-D-Manp-(1-->4)-alpha-L-Rhap-(1-->3)-alpha-D-Galp-(1--> where Abe is abequose (3,6-dideoxy-D-xylo-hexose). SDS-PAGE and immunoblotting revealed that the O-antigen of C. freundii O22 is serologically indistinguishable from those of Salmonella group B serovars (Typhimurium, Brandenburg, Sandiego, Paratyphi B) but not related to other abequose-containing O-antigens tested (Citrobacter werkmanii O38 and Salmonella Kentucky) or colitose (l enantiomer of abequose)-containing O-antigen of Escherichia coli O111.