The present invention relates to liquid crystalline media comprising one or more naphthothiadiazol derivatives of formula I,

##STR00001##

in which R.sup.11, R.sup.12, A.sup.11, A.sup.12, A.sup.21, A.sup.22, Z.sup.11, Z.sup.12, Z.sup.21, Z.sup.22, W, X.sup.11, X.sup.12, L, r, s and t have the meanings indicated in claim 1, to the use of such liquid crystal media for optical, electro-optical and electronic purposes, in particular in devices for regulating the passage of energy from an outside space into an inside space, for example in windows.

A device for regulating the passage of energy from an outside space into an inside space includes a switching layer, where the switching layer comprises one or more compounds of the formula: ##STR00001##
wherein R.sup.1, Z.sup.1, Z.sup.2, Ar.sup.1 and X are defined herein.

The present invention provides a polymerizable composition containing a specific polymerizable compound and a fluorosurfactant having, in its molecule, a pentaerythritol skeleton or a dipentaerythritol skeleton. The invention also provides an optically anisotropic body, a retardation film, an antireflective film, and a liquid crystal display device that are produced using the polymerizable composition of the present invention. The present invention is useful because, when an optically anisotropic body is produced by photo-polymerization of the polymerizable composition, three features including the leveling properties of the surface of the optically anisotropic body, offset onto the substrate, and liquid crystal alignment can be improved simultaneously.

The present application relates to novel compounds and to devices which contain these compounds. The application also relates to a device for regulating the passage of energy from an outside space into an inside space, to a window containing the said device, and to uses of the said devices and compounds.

A liquid crystal composition including: a polymerizable liquid crystal compound capable of expressing birefringence with inverse wavelength dispersion; and a (meth)acrylate compound containing two or more (meth)acryloyl groups per one molecule, wherein: an amount of the (meth)acrylate compound is 8 parts by weight or less, the amount being relative to 100 parts by weight of a sum total of the polymerizable liquid crystal compound and the (meth)acrylate compound.

The present invention provides a compound, a composition, a cured object, an optically anisotropic body, and a reflective film which have high refractive index anisotropy n and excellent light resistance, and which exhibit liquid crystallinity. The compound of the present invention is a compound represented by General Formula (1).

##STR00001##

There is provided a compound represented by General Formula (I), a composition containing the compound represented by General Formula (I), a cured product, an optically anisotropic body, an optical element, and a light guide element. P.sup.1 and P.sup.2 each independently represent a hydrogen atom, CN, NCS, or a polymerizable group. Sp.sup.1 and Sp.sup.2 each independently represent a single bond or a specific linking group, Z.sup.1 represents a specific linking group. However, two or more Z.sup.1's represent C?C. Two Z's bonded to A.sup.2 in Z-A.sup.2-Z in General Formula (I) do not represent C?C. A.sup.1 and A.sup.2 each independently represent a specific group. A plurality of A.sup.2's may be the same or different from each other. n represents an integer of 3 to 7.

##STR00001##

The present invention relates to liquid crystalline media comprising one or more benzothiadiazol derivatives of formula I,

##STR00001##

in which R.sup.11, R.sup.12, A.sup.11, A.sup.12, A.sup.21, A.sup.22, Z.sup.11, Z.sup.12, Z.sup.21, Z.sup.22, W, X.sup.11, X.sup.12, r and s have the meanings indicated in claim 1, to the use of such liquid crystal media for optical, electro-optical and electronic purposes, in particular in devices for regulating the passage of energy from an outside space into an inside space, for example in windows.

A coloring composition containing one or more species of compounds represented by Formula (I) or Formula (II) below, wherein each of R.sub.1 and R.sub.2 represents a hydrogen atom or substituent, each of Ar.sub.1 to Ar.sub.8 independently represents an optionally substituted aromatic hydrocarbon group or optionally substituted heterocyclic group, and each of L.sub.1 and L.sub.2 independently represents a divalent linking group which interrupts ? electron conjugated system: ##STR00001##

The present invention relates to heteroaromatic compounds which have two different reactive groups, their use in the synthesis of asymmetrically substituted compounds, and synthesis processes in which the compounds according to the invention are reacted sequentially with two different compounds, whereby an asymmetrically substituted compound is formed.