The structural and functional properties of zinc(ii) complexes of two nitrogen rich polydentate ligands, HTPDP = 1,3-bis(bis-pyridin-2-ylmethylamino)propan-2-ol and HTPPNOL = N,N,N'-tris-(2-pyridylmethyl)-1,3-diaminopropan-2-ol, are compared. HTPDP is a hepta-dentate ligand with four pyridyl groups attached to a 1,3-diaminopropan-2-ol backbone while HTPPNOL contains only three pyridyl groups. In reactions with Zn(ClO), HTPDP forms a dinuclear zinc compound [Zn(TPDP)(OAc)](ClO), 1. On the other hand, mononuclear [Zn(HTPPNOL)](ClO), 2, and tetranuclear [Zn(TPPNOL)(OAc)](ClO), 3, complexes were isolated with the ligand HTPPNOL. Kinetic measurements with the substrate bis(2,4-dinitrophenyl)phosphate (BDNPP) revealed that compound 1 (k = 31.4 × 10 min) is more reactive than 3 (k = 7.7 × 10 min) at pH = 8.5, whilst the mononuclear compound 2 is inactive. Compound 1 displays a typical steady-state kinetic behaviour, while compound 3 exhibits steady-state behaviour only ∼120 s after starting the reaction, preceded by a burst-phase. P NMR studies confirm that 1 can promote the hydrolysis of both ester bonds in BDNPP, generating the monoester DNPP and inorganic phosphate in the process. In contrast, DNPP is not a substrate for 3. The crystal structure of the complex formed by 3 and DNPP reveals the formation of a tetranuclear zinc complex [Zn(TPPNOL)(DNPP)](ClO), 4, in which the phosphate moiety of DNPP adopts an unusual tridentate μ-η:η:η coordination mode.

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