Five novel Zn II -(pyridyl)imidazole derivative coordination polymers, [Zn(L) 2 ] (1), [Zn 2 (μ 3 -OH)L(m-BDC)] (2), [Zn 2 (μ 3 -OH)L(p-BDC)]·H 2 O (3), [Zn 2 L(BTC)(H 2 O)]·2.5H 2 O (4) and [Zn 3.5 (μ 3 -OH)L 2 (BTEC)(H 2 O)]·H 2 O (5) (L=4-((2-(pyridine-2-yl)-1H-imidazol-1-yl)methyl)benzoic acid, p-H 2 BDC=1,4-benzenedicarboxylic acid, m-H 2 BDC=1,3-benzenedicarboxylic acid, H 3 BTC=1,3,5-benzenetricarboxylic acid, H 4 BTEC=1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid), were successfully synthesized under hydrothermal conditions through varying auxiliary aromatic-acid ligands and structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography. Compound 1 exhibits a 1D chain linked via double L bridges. Compound 2 features a well-known pcu topology with bent dicarboxylate ligand (m-H 2 BDC) as an auxiliary ligand, while 3 displays a bcu network with linear dicarboxylate ligand (p-H 2 BDC) as an auxiliary ligand. The structure of compound 4 is a novel 3D (3,5)-connected network with (4·6 2 )(4·6 4 ·8 2 ·10·12 2 ) topology. It is interesting that compound 5 shows an intricate (3,4,8)-connected framework with (4·6 2 )(4 2 ·6 3 ·8)(4 2 ·6 4 )(4 2 ·6 18 ·7·8 6 ·10) topology. In addition, their infrared spectra (IR), X-ray powder diffraction (XPRD) and photoluminescent properties were also investigated in detail.