This work highlights a simplistic route for synthesizing zinc oxide nanoparticles via a direct chelating reaction achieved by adding zinc nitrate to dicarboxylic acids namely malonic, succinic and tartaric followed by slow evaporation to form the subsequent complexes. The resulting complexes were thermally treated at 450o C for 2h to acquire the ZnO nanoparticles. The Fourier Transformation Infrared (FT-IR) vibrations indicated the bonding of zinc to the carboxylic oxygen as a clue for complex and produced zinc oxide nanoparticles formation. The X-ray diffraction (XRD) data and William Hall method models authenticated the nanosized dimensions (40 – 50 nm) of the acquired nanostructures. In addition, visual evidence was provided by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM) micrographs for the nanoparticles formation. The photoluminescence investigation demonstrated blue and green emissions occurred at 495 and 520 nm respectively. We believe that the preparation method adopted in this work is safe as no toxic chemicals or solvents were used.