What happens when NaCl reacts with Zinc?

As sodium is a stronger reducing agent (higher on activity series) than zinc, the reaction will not occur spontaneously; it will not occur without putting in some external energy. read more

So Zinc is capable of making plenty of complex ions and compounds. That’s beauty of d block elements. Given that Zn makes a Na2Zn(OH)2 compound, I would say ZnCl2 reacts with NaCl in the following manner. 2NaCl + ZnCl2 → Na2(ZnCl4) The IUPAC name would be Sodium tetrachlorozincate (II) Notice how the Zinc didn’t change its oxidation number. read more

The only possible reaction would be if the combination of zinc and sodium chloride was molten and above the boiling temperature of sodium, in which case, slowly but surely, sodium metal would evaporate off, leaving zinc chloride. read more