We present a simple model linking chemical interactions with macroscopic mechanical deformations for polymer-coated microcantilever devices. The chemo-mechanical process is treated in terms of Fickian diffusion followed by a structural relaxation of the polymer-guest complex. The model is tested on a series of microcantilever bending experiments, in the presence of different isotopologues, and at different incident guest fluxes. In many cases, a nontrivial behavior, expressed by the appearance of an overshoot, is observed. The new model provides insight into the ways chemical interactions and reorganization processes manifest themselves in mechanical processes. (c) 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys., 2013, 51, 795-801