The combination of inorganic salts and macromolecules leads to supramolecular structures with new interesting physical and chemical properties. The deposition of ZnS (Wurtzite) on oxadiazole-terpyridine copolymer P-90/10 synthesized by free radical copolymerization were investigated. The apparent order of the crystallization process was found to be 2 that indicated a surface diffusion-controlled mechanism. Critical nucleus formation proceeds via complexation of the ZnS molecules to the -N- atoms as concluded from computational chemistry calculations. The number of ions forming the critical nucleus was found experimentally to be (n(exp)(*) = 1.71 +/- 0.24) in accordance with the computational chemistry calculations by the PM3 method of the MOPAC program package. The surface energy of the growing ZnS phase was found to be 121 mJ/m(2) typical for sparingly soluble salts. (c) 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.