1 H NMR spectroscopy has been used to study the complexation of a per-alkyl dipyrromethene with zinc acetate. An intermediate, assigned to be the heteroleptic Zn(dipyrromethene)(acetate) complex, is observed under titration conditions although only zinc(dipyrromethene) 2 is obtained after simple work-up. This indicates that disproportionation occurs during work-up and that dipyrromethene complexation does not occur under self-assembled control.