The present invention relates to the technical field of liquid crystal displays, and particularly relates to a liquid crystal composition containing a 2-methyl-3,4,5-trifluorobenzene liquid crystal compound and use thereof, wherein the liquid crystal composition of the present invention comprises, in percentages by weight, 1-50% of one or more compounds represented by general formula I and 10-70% of one or more compounds represented by general formula II, and may further comprise 0-30% of compounds represented by general formula III and/or 6-45% of one or more compounds represented by general formulas IV to XIII The liquid crystal composition provided by the present invention has a low rotational viscosity and a large elastic constant, is presented as having a shorter response time, and can significantly improve the display effect of a liquid crystal display when applied to TN, IPS and FFS mode displays.

The present invention provides a compound represented by general formula (1) as well as a liquid crystal composition containing this compound and a liquid crystal display using this liquid crystal composition. Using the compound represented by general formula (1) as a component of a liquid crystal composition makes it possible to obtain a liquid crystal composition having a low viscosity (η), a high Δn, suitable T.sub.-i, high miscibility with other liquid crystal compounds, and presenting a liquid crystal phase over a wide temperature range. This is therefore extremely useful as a structural component of a liquid crystal composition for a liquid crystal display requiring a high speed response.

The present invention provides a polymerizable liquid crystal composition containing at least one polymerizable liquid crystal compound (I) having one polymerizable functional group in its molecule, at least one polymerizable liquid crystal compound (II) having two polymerizable functional groups in its molecule, and at least one compound (III) having tree or more aromatic rings at least one of which is substituted by an alkyl group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms or an alkoxy group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms. Also, the present invention provides an optically anisotropic body using the polymerizable liquid crystal composition of the present invention.

A liquid-crystalline medium, preferably having a nematic phase and dielectric anisotropy of 0.5 or more, which has one or more compounds of formula S

##STR00001## in which

##STR00002##

denotes

##STR00003##

and the other parameters have the meanings given in the text. Also, the use of the medium in an electro-optical display, particularly in an active-matrix display based on the IPS or FFS effect. Displays of this type which contain a liquid-crystalline medium of this type. And use of the compounds of formula S for the improvement of the transmission and/or response times of a liquid-crystalline medium which comprises one or more additional mesogenic compounds.

A liquid crystal display device comprises a first substrate, a second substrate which faces the first substrate, an electrode part which is provided on at least one of the first substrate and the second substrate, and a liquid crystal layer which comprises a liquid crystal composition and is provided between the first substrate and the second substrate. The liquid crystal composition includes a liquid crystal compound of Formula 1. ##STR00001##
wherein R.sub.1, R.sub.2, A.sub.11, A.sub.12, A.sub.13, A.sub.21, A.sub.22, Z.sub.11, Z.sub.12, Z.sub.13, Z.sub.21, Z.sub.22, a, b, c, d, and e are as described herein.

The present invention relates to compounds that have ultraviolet light absorbing properties, and which can also have mesogenic properties. The present invention also relates to compositions that include one or more such compounds, and to articles of manufacture that include one or more such compounds, such as optical elements that include an optical substrate and a layer that includes at least one compound of the present invention.

The invention relates to substituted quinquephenyls of the formulae indicated in the claims and description. They are particularly suitable as UV-stabilising component in liquid-crystalline media.

The present invention relates to aromatic isothiocyanates of formula U

##STR00001##

as defined in claim 1, to liquid-crystalline media comprising one or more compounds of formula U and to high-frequency components comprising these media, especially microwave components for high-frequency devices, such as devices for shifting the phase of microwaves, tunable filters, tunable metamaterial structures, and electronic beam steering antennas, e.g. phased array antennas.

The invention relates to a liquid-crystalline medium having a nematic phase comprising one or more compounds of formula X

##STR00001##

wherein the parameters have the meaning given in the text, to the use thereof in an electro-optical display, particularly in an active-matrix display based on the IPS or FFS effect, to displays of this type which contain a liquid-crystalline medium of this type and to the use of the compounds of formula X for improvement of the transmission and/or response times of a liquid-crystalline medium which comprises one or more additional mesogenic compounds, as well as to the compounds of formula X.

An optical film, a polarizing plate, and an image display device, each having an optically anisotropic layer obtained by curing a polymerizable liquid crystal composition including a polymerizable liquid crystal compound (LCC) having forward wavelength dispersion and a monofunctional compound, and immobilizing an alignment state of the polymerizable LCC. The number a.sub.1 of atoms of the polymerizable LCC and the number a.sub.2 of atoms of the monofunctional compound satisfy a relationship of Expression (1): 0.2<a.sub.2/a.sub.1<0.55; the number b.sub.1 of the rings B.sup.1 contained in the polymerizable LCC and the total number b.sub.2 of the aromatic rings Ar and the rings B.sup.2 contained in the monofunctional compound satisfy a relationship of Expression (2): b.sub.2=b.sub.1×0.5 or b.sub.2=(b.sub.1+1)×0.5.