The adsorption and decomposition reactions of dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP) on cerium oxide supported on aluminum oxide have been examined at 25 °C. Experiments were carried out that involved dosing the reactive adsorbent with small doses of DMMP, followed by quantitative determination of the decomposition products. The results suggest that the formation reactions of methanol and dimethyl ether are competitive processes involving the same surface intermediate, which is most likely a surface methoxy species. Based on the observed results, it is proposed that the formation of dimethyl ether is due to the combination of two surface methoxy groups, while an important, if not the dominant, reaction producing methanol involves a surface methoxy group interacting with a vapor phase or physisorbed DMMP molecule. The presence of significant amounts of methoxy fragments formed upon DMMP adsorption is supported by results from diffuse reflectance spectroscopy, which also show that those groups are primarily asso...