A new selective Zn;fluorescent chemosensor,o-vanlllin-4-ethoxybenzoylhydrazone(1),was designed and prepared.Free 1 mainly displayed very weak fluorescence at 480 nm upon excitation at 403 nm.It displayed high selectivity for Zn;and had a 518- fold fluorescent enhancement upon binding of Zn;,while the other cation ions had only little influence on the fluorescence of 1. Mechanism of enhancement of 1’s fluorescence by Zn;was briefly discussed.