Patent ID: 8440773

Claim:
A stimulus responsive compound, comprising: a first alkyl chain; a second alkyl chain; a crosslinking portion that crosslinks the first alkyl chain and the second alkyl chain; and a liquid crystalline functional group attached to at least one of the first alkyl chain or the second alkyl chain, the crosslinking portion including: a unit A that has a bond that serves as a rotational axis, a first group positioned at one end of the bond, and a second group positioned at the other end of the bond, a first unit B disposed at a first bonding site of the first group, and a second unit B disposed at a first bonding site of the second group, the crosslinking portion being attached to one of the first alkyl chain or the second alkyl chain at a second bonding site of the first group, and to the other one of the first alkyl chain or the second alkyl chain at a second bonding site of the second group, the first unit B and the second unit B being capable of forming a bond by reduction reaction, wherein the first unit B and the second unit B are represented by the following formula (4)