In this work, we seek to demonstrate the possibilities and limitations of protecting II-VI LHs from ambient conditions with surface-bound ligands alone and elucidate the mechanism by which these materials degrade in air. A series of previously unreported II-VI LHs of the general composition ZnSe(L) (L = primary amine) are synthesized by ligand exchange, and their relative stabilities under ambient conditions assessed by diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (DRS) and contact angle (CA) measurement. Longer linear alkylamine ligands lead to greater LH stability, where ligands possessing heteroatoms or cyclic functional groups provide a more complex picture of the role of ligands on LH stability. Exposure of LHs to isotopically enriched H2 O and O2 followed by characterization by dynamic secondary ion mass spectrometry (D-SIMS) allows us to propose a possible degradation mechanism for this class of materials. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations lend support to a proposed H2O-initiated degradation pathway.