A novel zinc(II) complex, Zn(IBT)(2) (1, HIBT = 5-(4-((1H-imidazol-1-yl)methyl)phenyl)-2H-tetrazole) has been synthesized with Zn(NO3)(2)center dot 6H(2)O, 4-(imidazol-1-ylmethyl)benzonnitrile (IBN) and NaN3 by the hydrothermal method, and characterized by elemental analysis, IR and single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Crystallographic data for 1: C22H18N12Zn, M-r = 515.85, orthorhombic, Pbcn, a = 16.0567(15), b = 9.5316(9), c = 14.6107(14) angstrom, V = 2236.1(4) angstrom(3), Z = 4, D-c = 1.532 g/cm(3), mu = 1.138 mm(-1), F(000) = 1056, R = 0.0350 and wR = 0.0888 for 1438 observed reflections (I > 2 sigma(I)) and the goodness-of-fit S = 1.002 on F-2. The crystal structural analysis revealed that complex 1 exhibits a rare two-dimensional homochiral wave-like layer structure. In addition, the photoluminescence of complex 1 was studied in the solid state at room temperature together with its theoretical analysis.