The synthesis of a series of binuclear zinc complexes with Cl, N and O bridges is reported. The reaction of EtZnCl with B(C 6 F 5 ) 3 in the presence of hexamethylbenzene affords the arene complex [Zn(μ-Cl)(C 6 F 5 )(η-C 6 Me 6 )] 2 in which the C 6 Me 6 ligand may be regarded as η 3 -bonded. The comproportionation of Zn[N(SiMe 3 ) 2 ] 2 with ZnBu t 2 or Zn(C 6 F 5 ) 2 ·toluene gave [Bu t Zn{μ-N(SiMe 3 ) 2 }] 2 and [C 6 F 5 Zn{μ-N(SiMe 3 ) 2 }] 2 , respectively, with three-coordinate zinc. The reaction of ZnEt 2 with C 6 F 5 OH in the presence of pyridine gave [EtZn(μ-OC 6 F 5 )(py)] 2 , while ZnMe 2 and C 6 F 5 OH followed by recrystallisation from THF gave [Zn(OC 6 F 5 )(μ-OC 6 F 5 )(THF) 2 ] 2 with five-coordinate zinc in a trigonal-bipyramidal geometry. The structures of these compounds have been determined.