The novel, 1D semiconductor (H 2 NC 4 H 8 NCH 2 CH 2 NH 2 )(HNCH 2 CH 2 NH 2 ) 3 Zn 2 Ge 2 Se 8 has been synthesized under solvothermal conditions using N-(2-aminoethyl)piperazine as solvent and templating agent at 200°C. The material was characterized by single crystal and powder X-ray diffraction, IR and Raman spectroscopy and thermogravimetric analysis. The compound consists of 1D anionic [Zn 2 Ge 2 Se 8 ] 4− chains made of alternating edge-shared [ZnSe 4 ] and [GeSe 4 ] tetrahedra that charged balanced by one N-(2-aminoethyl)piperazinium and three piperazinium cations. The optical properties were investigated with solid state UV–Vis/near IR spectroscopy and the results show that the solid is a medium gap semiconductor with an absorption edge at 1.8eV.