Patent ID: 7081279

Claim:
A liquid crystal composition comprising at least two components, characterized by containing at least one liquid crystalline compound represented by the following general formula (1): wherein R 1 represents hydrogen, fluorine, an alkyl group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms, or an alkenyl group having 2 to 4 carbon atoms; each of rings A 1 , A 2 and A 3 independently represents trans-1,4-cyclohexylene group, 1,4-cyclohexenylene group, trans-1,4-silacyclohexylene group, 1,4-phenylene group, 2,3-difluoro-1,4-phenylene group, 2-fluoro-1,4-phenylene group, 3-fluoro-1,4-phenylene group, 1,3-dioxane-2,5-diyl group, tetrahydropyrane-2,5-diyl group, 1,3-dithiane-2,5-diyl group, or tetrahydro-thiopyrane-2,5-diyl group; X 1 represents hydrogen or fluorine; Y 1 represents hydrogen or an alkyl group having 1 to 10 carbon atoms, in which each of optional nonadjacent methylene groups (—CH 2 —) may be substituted by oxygen; λ represents an integer from 0 to 4, in which each of optional nonadjacent methylene groups in (—CH 2 —) l may be substituted by oxygen; and each of m and n independently represents 0 or 1; with the proviso that when Y 1 represents ethoxy, one of m and n is 1 and the other is 0, A 1 represents trans-1,4-cyclohexylene, A 2 and A 3 are 2,3-difluoro-1,4-phenylene or 3-fluoro-1,4-phenylene, X 1 represents hydrogen, λ is 0 or 2, then R 1 represents neither hydrogen nor methyl; when Y 1 represents ethoxy, one of m and n is 1 and the other is 0, A 1 represents trans-1,4-cylclohexylene, A 2 and A 3 are 2-fluoro-1,4-phenylene, X 1 represents hydrogen, R 1 represents methyl, then λ is neither 0 nor 2; and when ring A 1 represents 1,4-phenylene group, 2,3-difluoro-1,4-phenylene group, 2-fluoro-1,4-phenylene, or 3-fluoro-1,4-phenylene group, λ is 1 to 4.