The synthesis, characterisation and liquid crystal properties of some forty palladium imine complexes are reported, along with the single crystal X-ray structures of three derivatives. The complexes contain an imine ligand, bound to palladium in an ortho-metallated fashion, and a β-diketonate; the liquid crystal behaviour is studied as a function of the structure of both ligands. The design of these complexes sought to address methods for promoting specific lateral interactions as a means to induce correlations perpendicular to the main liquid crystal director. Such interactions could stabilise lower-symmetry nematic phases such as N_B, a proposition supported by calculations.