Treatment of pyrazolyl acetoximes p-RC6H4{CN(H)NCCH}CH2C(Me)=NOH (R = OMe, H, F, Cl, CN, NO2) with 1 equiv of ZnCl2 leads to the complexes [ZnCl2(p-RC6H4{CN(H)NCCH}CH2C(Me)=NOH)] (81-91%). These species exhibit fluorescence at room temperature with emission maxima in the region 460-509 nm and biexponential relaxation with tau(1)= 4.63-8.64 ns and tau(2) = 0.482-0.955 ns, respectively. The zinc complexes were characterized by elemental analyses (C, H, N), HRESI-MS, FFIR, H-1 and C-13{H-1} NMR, and CP-MAS TOSS C-13{H-1} NMR. In addition, two zinc complexes and one pyrazolyl acetoxime were studied by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.