A number of copper and palladium complexes of 1-hydroxy-2,3,5,6,7-pentaalkoxy-9,10-anthraquinones were prepared. Lower homologues of both the series are not liquid crystalline while higher homologues were found to be liquid crystalline forming columnar mesophases. The columnar phase can be induced in non liquid crystalline homologues by doping with TNF While copper complexes were found to be thermally stable, all the palladium complexes were unstable.