The invention relates to a liquid-crystalline medium, preferably having a nematic phase and dielectric anisotropy of 0.5 or more, which comprises one or more compounds of formula D

##STR00001## in which the parameters have the meanings 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 compounds of formula T and their use for the improvement of the transmission and/or response times of a liquid-crystalline medium which comprises one or more additional mesogenic compounds.

[Object] An object of the present invention is to provide a liquid crystal composition containing a polymerizable compound for use in the manufacture of a PSA or PSVA liquid crystal display device. The polymerizable compound has a sufficiently high polymerization rate. The PSA or PSVA liquid crystal display device has few or no display defects due to a change in pretilt angle, has an adequate pretilt angle, and has high responsiveness. The present invention also provides a liquid crystal display device having the liquid crystal composition. [Solution] The object is achieved by using a liquid crystal composition containing one or two or more polymerizable compounds represented by the general formula (I).

The present invention relates to a liquid-crystal (LC) medium comprising one or more polymerisable compounds and to the use of the LC medium for optical, electro-optical and electronic purposes, in particular in LC displays, especially in LC displays of the polymer sustained alignment (PS, PSA) or self-aligning (SA) type.

The present invention relates to polymerisable compounds, to processes and intermediates for the preparation thereof, to liquid-crystal (LC) media comprising them, and to the use of the polymerisable compounds and LC media for optical, electro-optical and electronic purposes, in particular in LC displays, especially in LC displays of the polymer sustained alignment (PS, PSA) and self-aligning (SA) type.

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.

An object is to provide a method of manufacturing a liquid crystal layer in which an alignment film is repeatedly used and a liquid crystal compound in a liquid crystal layer can be sufficiently aligned. The method of manufacturing a liquid crystal layer includes: an alignment film forming step of forming an alignment film on a support; a liquid crystal alignment film alignment step of laminating a first liquid crystal composition including a polymerizable liquid crystal compound on the alignment film and aligning the first liquid crystal composition; a liquid crystal alignment layer forming step of polymerizing the aligned first liquid crystal composition to form a liquid crystal alignment layer; a peeling step of laminating and immobilizing a surface of the liquid crystal alignment layer opposite to the alignment film on an adherend and peeling the liquid crystal alignment layer from the alignment film at an interface between the liquid crystal alignment layer and the alignment film; a liquid crystal layer alignment step of laminating a second liquid crystal composition including a polymerizable liquid crystal compound on a surface of the liquid crystal alignment layer from which the alignment film is peeled off and aligning the second liquid crystal composition; a liquid crystal layer forming step of polymerizing the aligned second liquid crystal composition to form a liquid crystal layer; and a liquid crystal layer separation step of separating the formed liquid crystal layer from the liquid crystal alignment layer, in which the liquid crystal layer alignment step to the liquid crystal layer separation step are repeated to repeatedly prepare the liquid crystal layer.

Self-aligned liquid crystal materials and structures are disclosed. The structures can exhibit piezoelectric and flexoelectric properties.

A composite includes a liquid crystal polyester that is soluble in a solvent; and liquid crystal polymer particles that are insoluble in a solvent, have a melting point of 270° C. or more, and have a cumulative distribution 50% diameter D.sub.50 of 20 μm or less and a cumulative distribution 90% diameter D.sub.90 of 2.5 times or less the D.sub.50 in a particle size distribution.

The invention relates to a liquid crystal compound having the structure of formula I wherein R is selected from the group consisting of H and alkyl or alkoxy groups of 1 to 12 carbon atoms in which one or more H are unsubstituted or substituted with halogen; A.sub.1 is selected from the group consisting of a single bond or a 1,4-phenylene group in which each H in the 1,4-phenylene group is independently substituted by one or more halogen atoms; L.sub.1 and L.sub.2 are each independently selected from H or halogen; Z.sub.1 is a single bond or —(CH.sub.2).sub.2—. The compound has advantages of low rotational viscosity, large dielectric anisotropy, good mutual solubility and stability, which can be added to LC composition to reduce the driving voltage of the display. Thus, the novel compound has prosperous applications in LCD industry.

##STR00001##

The invention relates to a liquid crystal compound having the structure of formula I wherein R is selected from the group consisting of H and alkyl or alkoxy groups of 1 to 12 carbon atoms in which one or more H are unsubstituted or substituted with halogen; A.sub.1 is selected from the group consisting of a single bond or a 1,4-phenylene group in which each H in the 1,4-phenylene group is independently substituted by one or more halogen atoms; L.sub.1 and L.sub.2 are each independently selected from H or halogen; Z.sub.1 is a single bond or —(CH.sub.2).sub.2—. The compound has advantages of low rotational viscosity, large dielectric anisotropy, good mutual solubility and stability, which can be added to LC composition to reduce the driving voltage of the display. Thus, the novel compound has prosperous applications in LCD industry.

##STR00001##