A series of imidazolium dicarboxylic acids have been prepared from the reaction of the 1,3-bis(carboxymethyl)imidazolium zwitterion with the Brønsted acids HX (X = F, Br, Cl, ClO4). The structures of these acids have been established in the solid state by single-crystal X-ray diffraction, which revealed that the cations and anions form strong hydrogen bonds through O-H...X interactions, leading to the formation of dimeric and polymeric networks. These acids react with elemental zinc and cobalt to form stable polymeric coordination complexes, some of which have also been characterised by X-ray diffraction.