The effect of different modes of the carboxylato ligands on the reactivity of gaseous zinc-acetate complexes is investigated by infrared multiphoton dissociation spectroscopy. In [(Imi)nZn(CH3COO)]+ complexes (Imi = imidazole, n = 1-3) the coordination changes from bi- to monodentate upon coordination of the third imidazole ligand ("carboxylate shift").