Carbohydrates are extremely important biomolecules and their immobilization onto solid surfaces is of interest for the development of new biomimetic materials and of new methods for understanding processes in glycobiology. We have developed an efficient surface modification methodology for the functionalization of a range of materials with biologically active carbohydrates based on aryldiazonium chemistry. We describe the synthesis and characterization of carbohydrate reagents, which were subsequently employed for the one-step, solution-based modification of carbon, metals, and alloys with monosaccharides. We used a combination of spectroscopic and nanogravimetric methods to characterize the structure of the carbohydrate layers; we report an average surface coverage of 7.8 × 10–10 mol cm–2 under our experimental conditions. Concanavalin A, a mannose-binding lectin, and Peanut Agglutinin, a galactose-binding lectin, were found to bind from solution to their respective monosaccharide binding partners immobi...