An alignment layer composition including a copolymer of a dianhydride compound and a diamine compound, the copolymer including a repeating unit represented by chemical formula (1); and a repeating unit represented by chemical formula (2):

##STR00001##

wherein R.sub.1 is a tetravalent organic group derived from an alicyclic dianhydride or an aromatic dianhydride, and wherein R.sub.1 includes a phenyl ester group.

An alignment layer composition including a copolymer of a dianhydride compound and a diamine compound, wherein the copolymer includes a repeating unit represented by Formula 1:

##STR00001##

wherein each of Ar.sub.1 and Ar.sub.2 is independently a substituted or unsubstituted aromatic group comprising 6 to 30 carbon atoms, X is an electron donating group, and

##STR00002##

is an ester group, wherein “*” indicates a point of attachment to the aromatic groups Ar.sub.1 and Ar.sub.2.

Regioselectively substituted cellulose esters having a plurality of aryl-acyl substituents and a plurality of alkyl-acyl substituents are disclosed along with methods for making the same. Such cellulose esters may be suitable for use in optical films, such as optical films having certain Nz values, −A optical films, and/or +C optical films. Optical films prepared employing such cellulose esters have a variety of commercial applications, such as, for example, as compensation films in liquid crystal displays and/or waveplates in creating circular polarized light used in 3-D technology.

A photo-aligning liquid crystal alignment layer formed by using a photo-aligning liquid crystal aligning agent containing polyamic acid or a derivative thereof which is synthesized by using tetracarboxylic acid dianhydride having no photoreactive structure having a specific structure and diamine having no photoreactive structure having a specific structure together with at least one of tetracarboxylic acid dianhydride having a photoreactive structure and diamine having a photoreactive structure can reduce storage of residual DC in a liquid crystal display device. Further, the above alignment layer can shorten the relaxation time and can prevent afterimages from being generated.

A liquid crystal display including a first substrate, a thin film transistor disposed on the first substrate, a first electrode connected to the thin film transistor, and a first alignment layer disposed on the first electrode, wherein the first alignment layer includes polyimide and a capping group connected to a main chain end of the polyimide, and the capping group contains at least one of a first compound represented by the following Chemical Formula 1, and a second compound represented by the following Chemical Formula 2: ##STR00001## A1 and A2 are, independently of each other, an aromatic compound having 4 to 20 carbon atoms or an aliphatic cyclic compound having 4 to 20 carbon atoms; and B1 and B2 are, independently of each other, a crosslinking reaction group containing an alkylene group (—C.sub.nH.sub.2n—, n is a natural number).

Provided are liquid crystal compounds and mixtures incorporating the same. The liquid crystal compounds of the invention generally comprise a cyclopentane group and at least two other rings. In one embodiment, the liquid crystal compounds of the invention comprise a cyclopentane group and at least two other rings, one of which is a fused ring system.

A display device includes a flexible display unit, an electronic component disposed on one surface thereof, and a coating layer that is elastically deformable to cover the electronic component, the coating layer has a fixed region fixed to one of the one surface of the flexible display unit and an end surface of an end portion, and a coating region configured to cover the electronic component is disposed inside the fixed region to be deformed to absorb distortion upon bending of the flexible display unit.

A resin of the present disclosure includes a resin and a compound represented by General Formula I below. ##STR00001## wherein each of R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3, R.sup.4, R.sup.5, R.sup.6, R.sup.7 and R.sup.8 represents a hydrogen atom, a halogen atom, a hydroxyl group, or an aliphatic hydrocarbon group having a carbon number within a range from 1 to 8, and X represents a divalent linking group constituted by at least one species selected from among a single bond, an ether bond, and an alkylene group having a carbon number within a range from 1 to 15.

A liquid crystal display device includes a TFT substrate having a first alignment film and an opposing substrate having a second alignment film with liquid crystals sandwiched therebetween. One of the first and second alignment films, comprises a first polyimide produced via polyamide acid ester containing cyclobutane as a precursor and a second polyimide produced via polyamide acid as a precursor. The polyamide acid has a higher polarity than that of the polyamide acid ester. The one of the first and second alignment films is responsive to photo-alignment. A first side of the one of the first and second alignment films is adjacent to the liquid crystals, and a second side thereof is closer to one of the TFT substrate and the counter substrate than the first side. The first side contains more of the first polyimide and less of the second polyimide than the second side.

The present invention relates to an optically anisotropic sheet comprising a substrate and a liquid crystal cured layer laminated together, wherein the substrate has a surface roughness of 1.0 nm or less in a field of view of 1 μm.sup.2 and a water contact angle of 70° or more.