An interaction of water-methanol solution of sodium1,4-benzenediacetate (bda) and 4,4′-bipyridylethelene (bpee) with aqueous solution of Zn(NO3)2·6H2O at room temperature yielded colourless crystals of 1 after three weeks in a sealed glass tube. The compound with composition C22H18ZnN2O4 crystallizes in monoclinic space group P21/c, with the following cell dimensions: a = 10.4566(2), b = 13.3085(2), c = 13.7189(2) Å, β = 101.491(1)°. In the structure of 1, two Zn(II) neighbours are connected by two bda ligands adopting chelating and bidentate-bridging coordination modes to form a dimeric unit (Zn2O8N4) with the Zn–Zn distance of 4.0432(6) Å. The carboxyl-bridged dimeric units are extended along the [001] direction by bpee co-ligands and further linked by bda ligand to form a three-dimensional network structure. The IR shows the characteristic bands of the carboxylates at 1611/1507 cm−1 and 1424/1373 cm−1, respectively, for asymmetric and symmetric stretching −CO2− vibrations. The separation ∆[νasym(CO2−) − νsym(CO2−)] values of 187 and 134 cm−1 are indicative of chelating and bidentate bridging coordination modes of the carboxylate to the metal centre.