In the present work seven Schiff bases have been synthesized by the reaction of anilines and substituted anilines with benzil via condensation reaction. The selected substituted anilines were ortho and meta substituted chloro anilines, ortho and meta substituted methyl anilines and ortho and meta substituted carboxlyic aniline. The substituted anilines were selected to observe the affect of these electron donating and withdrawing group on the Schiff base formation and consequently on the coordination behavior of these ligands with the zinc ion. These Schiff base ligands were complexed with the zinc metal ion. It was observed that all the ligands and complexes formed readily. The resulting Schiff base ligands and their coordination complexes with zinc ion were recrystallized by CH₂Cl₂/n-hexane (1:10) mixture. All the ligands and zn coordination complexes were characterized by the IR spectroscopy.  The stability of these coordination complexes were observed by UV/Visible spectroscopy. Thermal stability of these complexes was observed by subjecting them to thermogravimetric analysis. Our method of preparation of the Schiff bases and the corresponding metal complexes can be used to prepare similar compounds.