Metal ions have emerged to play a key role in the aggregation process of amyloid beta (A beta) peptide that is closely related to the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease. A detailed understanding of the underlying mechanistic process of peptide-metal interactions, however, has been challenging to obtain. By applying a combination of NMR relaxation dispersion and fluorescence kinetics methods we have investigated quantitatively the thermodynamic A beta-Zn2+ binding features as well as how Zn2+ modulates the nucleation mechanism of the aggregation process. Our results show that, under near-physiological conditions, substoichiometric amounts of Zn2+ effectively retard the generation of amyloid fibrils. A global kinetic profile analysis reveals that in the absence of zinc A beta(40) aggregation is driven by a monomer-dependent secondary nucleation process in addition to fibril-end elongation. In the presence of Zn2+, the elongation rate is reduced, resulting in reduction of the aggregation rate, but not a complete inhibition of amyloid formation. We show that Zn2+ transiently binds to residues in the N terminus of the monomeric peptide. A thermodynamic analysis supports a model where the N terminus is folded around the Zn2+ ion, forming a marginally stable, short-lived folded A beta(40) species. This conformation is highly dynamic and only a few percent of the peptide molecules adopt this structure at any given time point. Our findings suggest that the folded A beta(40)-Zn2+ complex modulates the fibril ends, where elongation takes place, which efficiently retards fibril formation. In this conceptual framework we propose that zinc adopts the role of a minimal antiaggregation chaperone for A beta(40).