Two novel medium pore cobalt-substituted aluminophosphate molecular sieves CoAPO-41 and CoAPSO-41 have been synthesized hydrothermally using di-n-propylamine as the organic template. These materials have been characterized by various physical methods including XRD, TGA, SEM, electron microprobe analysis, 27 Al, 29 Si, and 31 P MAS NMR, UV-visible, and ESR spectroscopies. Substitution of cobalt into the framework has been established. Cobalt in CoAPO/CoAPSO-41 after calcination in O 2 and subsequent dehydration and H 2 treatment at high temperature activates molecular oxygen by forming a peroxocobalt adduct Co-O-O • . The peroxo species is unstable at temperatures above 573 K. Adsorption of molecules such as D 2 O, ND 3 , CH 3 OD, and CO on CoAPO/CoAPSO-41 materials after calcination, dehydration, and high-temperature hydrogen treatment forms complexes with Co(II) from the framework as revealed by ESR measurements at 4.5 and 77 K.