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Developing thin polymeric films for trapping, releasing, delivering, and sensing molecules is important for many applications in chemistry, biotechnology, and environment. Hence, a facile and scalable technique for loading specific molecules on surfaces would rapidly translate into applications. This work presents a novel method for the trapping of functional molecules at interfaces by exploiting diazonium salt chemistry. We demonstrate the efficiency of this approach by trapping two different molecules, 4-nitrobenzophenone and paracetamol, within polycarboxyphenyl layers grafted on gold and glassy carbon (GC) and by releasing them in acidic medium. The former molecule was chosen as a proof of concept for its electrochemical and spectroscopic properties, and the latter one was selected as an example of a pharmaceutical molecule. Advantages of the present approach rely on the simplicity, rapidity, and efficiency of the procedure for the reversible, on demand, trapping and release of functional molecules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]