A photoreactive compound for the preparation of photoalignment materials comprising thioether units; comprising at least one ene group and at least one photoalignment group, wherein "photoalignment groups", are anisotropically absorbing groups useful in the preparation of alignment layers, "ene" group is a residue selected from the groups of compounds given below: norbornene, vinyl ether, vinyl ester, allyl ether, allyl ester, propenyl ether, allyl triazine, allyl isocyanurate, alkene, acrylate, unsaturated ester, imide, maleimide, methacrylate, acrylonitrile, styrene, diene and vinyl amide; "yne" group is C 1 -C 6 alkyne; preferred is C 1 -C 4 alkyne; with the proviso that if the photoreactive compound does not contain yne groups, then the photoreactive compound contains at least two ene groups, and wherein a photoreactive compound is represented by formula wherein "photoalignment groups", "ene", "yne" have independently from each other the same meanings as described above, "spacer" independently from each other represents a simple covalent bound or a straight-chain or branched C 1 -C 24 alky) residue, preferably C 1 -C 10 alkyl residue, more preferably C 1 -C 8 alkyl residue, which is unsubstituted, mono-substituted by cyano or halogeno, or polysubstituted by halogeno, wherein one or more non adjacent CH 2 groups may independently be replaced by a group Q, wherein Q represents -O-, -CO-, -CO-O-, -O-CO-, -S i (CH 3) 2 -O-S i (CH 3) 2 -, -NR 2 -, -NR 2 -CO-, -CO-NR 2 -, -NR 2 -CO-O-, -O-CO-NR 2 -, -NR 2 -CO-NR 2 -, -CH=CH-, -C≡C-, -O-CO-O-, aromatic group;or an unsubstituted or substituted aromatic group, and wherein R 2 represents hydrogen or C 1 -C 6 alkyl; with the proviso that oxygen atoms of linking groups are not directly linked to each other; "bridging group" represents independently from each other a single covalent bond, or an unsubstituted or substituted group of formula: wherein R 3 is substituted or unsubstituted C 1 -C 6 alkyl, preferably ethyl or methyl, m and m1 are independently from each other 0, 1, 2 or 3, preferably 1 or 2, n is 1,2 or 3, q is 1,2 or 3, q1 is 0, 1, 2 or 3, p and p1 are independently from each other 0, 1, 2, 3, "*" represents a covalent linkage to the residue of the compound, with the proviso that if the photoreactive compound does not contain yne groups, then the photoreactive compound contains at least two ene groups; and with the proviso that if the bridging group is a covalent bond, the photoreactive compound of formula is wherein R 5,R 6,R 14 are independently from each other hydrogen or substituted or unsubstituted C 1 -C 6 alkyl, preferably ethyl or methyl, C 1 -C 6 alkoxy, preferably ethoxy or methoxy, halogen, cyano. norbornene, vinyl ether, vinyl ester, allyl ether, allyl ester, propenyl ether, allyl triazine, allyl isocyanurate, alkene, acrylate, unsaturated ester, imide, maleimide, methacrylate, acrylonitrile, styrene, diene and vinyl amide; "yne" group is C 1 -C 6 alkyne; preferred is C 1 -C 4 alkyne; with the proviso that if the photoreactive compound does not contain yne groups, then the photoreactive compound contains at least two ene groups, and wherein a photoreactive compound is represented by formula wherein "photoalignment groups", "ene", "yne" have independently from each other the same meanings as described above, "spacer" independently from each other represents a simple covalent bound or a straight-chain or branched C 1 -C 24 alky) residue, preferably C 1 -C 10 alkyl residue, more preferably C 1 -C 8 alkyl residue, which is unsubstituted, mono-substituted by cyano or halogeno, or polysubstituted by halogeno, wherein one or more non adjacent CH 2 groups may independently be replaced by a group Q, wherein Q represents -O-, -CO-, -CO-O-, -O-CO-, -S i (CH 3) 2 -O-S i (CH 3) 2 -, -NR 2 -, -NR 2 -CO-, -CO-NR 2 -, -NR 2 -CO-O-, -O-CO-NR 2 -, -NR 2 -CO-NR 2 -, -CH=CH-, -C≡C-, -O-CO-O-, aromatic group;or an unsubstituted or substituted aromatic group, and wherein R 2 represents hydrogen or C 1 -C 6 alkyl; with the proviso that oxygen atoms of linking groups are not directly linked to each other; "bridging group" represents independently from each other a single covalent bond, or an unsubstituted or substituted group of formula: wherein R 3 is substituted or unsubstituted C 1 -C 6 alkyl, preferably ethyl or methyl, m and m1 are independently from each other 0, 1, 2 or 3, preferably 1 or 2, n is 1,2 or 3, q is 1,2 or 3, q1 is 0, 1, 2 or 3, p and p1 are independently from each other 0, 1, 2, 3, "*" represents a covalent linkage to the residue of the compound, with the proviso that if the photoreactive compound does not contain yne groups, then the photoreactive compound contains at least two ene groups; and with the proviso that if the bridging group is a covalent bond, the photoreactive compound of formula is R 3 is substituted or unsubstituted C 1 -C 6 alkyl, preferably ethyl or methyl, m and m1 are independently from each other 0, 1, 2 or 3, preferably 1 or 2, n is 1,2 or 3, q is 1,2 or 3, q1 is 0, 1, 2 or 3, p and p1 are independently from each other 0, 1, 2, 3, "*" represents a covalent linkage to the residue of the compound, with the proviso that if the photoreactive compound does not contain yne groups, then the photoreactive compound contains at least two ene groups; and with the proviso that if the bridging group is a covalent bond, the photoreactive compound of formula is