| abstract |
Disclosed are liquid crystalline compounds which (i) are characterized in that the compounds have a wide temperature range in which the compounds exhibit a liquid crystal phase, are low in viscosity, and have a negative and large DELTAepsi, (ii) are readily mixed with other various liquid crystal materials even at low temperatures, and (iii) are useful as component of liquid crystal compositions suitable both for TFT type display mode and IPS mode; and liquid crystal composition comprising the liquid crystalline compound; the compounds are expressed by the general formula (1)wherein R1 represents an alkyl group having 1 to 15 carbon atoms; ring A1, ring A2, and ring A3 independently represent trans-1,4-cyclohexylene group, trans-1,4-silacyclohexylene group, pyrimidine-2,5-diyl group, pyridine-2,5-diyl group, 1,3-dioxane-2,5-diyl group, tetrahydropyran-2,5-diyl group, 1,3-dithian-2,5-diyl group, or tetrahydrothiopyran-2,5-diyl group, or 1,4-phenylene group in which one or more hydrogen atoms on the six-membered ring may be replaced by a halogen atom; X1, X2, and X3 independently represent -(CH2)4-, -(CH2)3O-, -O(CH2)3-, or single bond; Y1 represents hydrogen atom or an alkyl group having 1 to 15 carbon atoms; m and n are independently 0 or 1; and any atom which constitutes this compound may be replaced by its isotope. |