Structural aspects of lipoarabinomannans (LAM) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium smegmatis were investigated by using mild acid hydrolysis in combination with Fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance (FT-ICR), and quadrupole ion trap mass spectrometry. Exact mass measurements with less than 2.5 ppm mass error confirmed the presence of a series of arabinose oligomers (Ara n ; n ϭ 2-7) as the major components observed following mild acid hydrolysis of both M. tuberculosis and M. smegmatis LAM. However, the mass spectrum of the resulting LAM extract also revealed a highly-abundant distribution of ions that exact mass measurements identified as mannose-linked arabinose species, Ara n Man m ϩ Na ϩ (n ϭ 1-6; m ϭ 1-3). The observed mannose caps were linked to arabinose species as mono-, di-, and trimannose units, and the ratio of the mono-, di-, and trimannose caps was determined to be 1.00:9.00:1.15, respectively, different from previous reports. Analysis of the linkage of lithiated arabinose trimer standards was accomplished with MS 3 experiments and the information generated was used to identify linkages of arabinose trimers generated by mild acid hydrolysis of M. tuberculosis and M. smegmatis LAM. The MS 3 spectra confirmed the linkage of arabinose trimers from M. smegmatis and M. tuberculosis LAM as predominantly