A Zn(II) 2-mercaptonicotinate coordination polymer (Zn1), with Zn(II) ions chelated by both sulfur and oxygen in a distorted square pyramidal environment, and a molecular Zn(II) 2-hydroxynicotinate complex (Zn2) were synthesized by the reaction of zinc acetylacetonate with 2-mercaptonicotinic (Zn1) and 2-hydroxynicotinc (Zn2) acid, respectively, under hydrothermal conditions. The crystal structures of Zn1 and Zn2 were determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction measurements. Dispersion-corrected density functional theory (DFT) calculations reproduce very well the experimental structures and show that Zn1 is stable against hydration, whereas Zn2 is stable against dehydration over wide ranges of temperature and pressure, in agreement with thermogravimetric analysis results. The electronic structure of the two compounds is computed with the DFT+U method. The theoretical valence band agrees well with the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy experiments. Furthermore, the band gap of Zn1 is found to be narrower than that of Zn1 and is characterized by the presence of sulfur lone pairs at the edge of the valence band.