Long chain substituted phthalocyanines are increasingly of interest because of their high solubility in common organic solvents and their liquid crystalline properties. 2,3,9,10,16,17,23,24-Octakis(decyloxy)phthalocyaninatonickel(II) (1), -palladium(II) (2) and -platinum(II) (3) were synthesized by reacting 1,2-dicyano-4,5-bis(decyloxy)benzene with the corresponding metal(II) salts and their liquid crystalline properties were investigated. Similarly, 1,4,8,11,15,18,22,25- (4) and 2,3,9,10,16,17,23,24-octakis(heptyl)phthalocyaninatonickel(II) (5) were prepared and their properties were compared. Compound 4 was investigated in detail with respect to its electrochemical properties.