The synthesis, crystal structure, thermal analysis and spectroscopic studies of five zinc(II) complexes of formulae [Zn(Memal)(H₂O)]_n (1) and [Zn₂(L)(Memal)₂(H₂O)₂]_n (2-5) [H₂Memal=methylmalonic acid, and L=4,4′-bipyridine (4,4′-bpy) (2), 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethylene (bpe) (3), 1,2-bis(4-pyridyl)ethane (bpa) (4) and 4,4′-azobispyridine (azpy) (5)] are presented here. The crystal structure of 1 is a three-dimensional arrangement of zinc(II) cations interconnected by methylmalonate groups adopting the μ₃-κ²O:κO’:κO”:κO”’ coordination mode to afford a rare (10,3)-d utp-network. The structures of the compounds 2-5 are also three-dimensional and they consist of corrugated square layers of methylmalonate-bridged zinc(II) ions which are pillared by bis-monodentate 4,4′-bpy (2), bpe (3), bpa (4) and azpy (5) ligands. The Memal ligand in 2-5 adopts the μ₃-κO:κO′:κO′′:κO′′′ coordination mode. Each zinc(II) ion in 1-5 is six-coordinated with five (1)/four (2-5) methylmalonate-oxygen atoms, a water molecule (1-5) and a nitrogen atom from a L ligand (2-5) building distorted octahedral environments. The rod-like L co-ligands in 2-5 appear as useful tools to control the interlayer metal-metal separation, which covers the range 8.4311(5) Å (2) – 9.644(3) Å (5). The influence of the co-ligand on the fluorescence properties of this series of compounds has been analyzed and discussed by steady-state and time resolved spectroscopy on all five compounds in the solid state.