摘要:
The present invention is to provide a liquid crystalline compound which has a large ratio of elastic constants and low viscosity, is excellent in miscibility, and is even chemically stable, and to provide a liquid crystal composition containing the liquid crystalline compound. The present invention is concerned with a liquid crystalline compound expressed by general formula (1) wherein R 1 represents cyano group, halogen atom, or a straight or branched alkyl group or halogenated alkyl group having 1 to 20 carbon atoms, one or not-adjacent two CH 2 groups in the alkyl group or halogenated alkyl group may be replaced by oxygen atom or -CH=CH- group; R 2 and R 2 ' represent hydrogen atom, halogen atom, or an alkyl group having 1 to 9 carbon atoms; X 1 , X 2 , and X 3 independently represent -CH 2 CH 2 -, -CO-O-, -O-CO-, -CH=CH-, -C≡C-, -(CH 2 ) 4 -, -CF 2 O-, -OCF 2 -, -CH 2 O-, -OCH 2 -, or a covalent bond; rings A, B, C, and D independently represent 1,4-phenylene ring, trans-1,4-cyclohexylene ring, bicyclo[1,1,0]butane ring, bicyclo[1,1,1]pentane ring, bicyclo[3,2,2]octane ring, cyclobutane ring, or spiro[3,3]heptane ring, respectively, hydrogen atom in these rings may be replaced by halogen atom and carbon atom in these rings may be replaced by nitrogen atom or oxygen atom; ℓ, m, and o are independently 0 or 1, n is an integer of 0 to 3, and p is an integer of 1 to 5. Liquid crystal composition having excellent physical properties, that is, steep threshold characteristics and high response speed can be obtained by providing a novel liquid crystalline compound having a large ratio of elastic constants and low viscosity, or by including the liquid crystalline compound in a liquid crystal composition.