A liquid crystal composition is provided containing a first liquid crystal compound represented by formula (1): ##STR00001##
and a second liquid crystal compound represented by formula (2): ##STR00002## Also provided is a method for producing the liquid crystal composition having a desired wavelength dispersion characteristic.

A polymerizable liquid crystal composition having excellent solubility, used for formation of an optically anisotropic film having excellent durability. The polymerizable liquid crystal composition contains a polymerizable liquid crystal compound P1 represented by Formula (1): A-Ar-A, a polymerizable liquid crystal compound P2 represented by Formula (2): A-Ar-B, and a polymerizable liquid crystal compound P3 represented by Formula (3): B-Ar-B. In Formulae (1) and (2), A's represent predetermined side chains, all of which exhibit the same C log P value, and in Formulae (2) and (3), B's represent predetermined side chains, all of which exhibit the same C log P value. It should be noted that A and B represent side chains having C log P values different from each other, in which the C log P value of A is larger than the C log P value of B and the C log P value of at least one of A or B is 3.3 or more.

A polymerizable liquid crystal compound represented by the following general formula (1):

##STR00001##

(the symbols in the general formula (1) are as described in the DESCRIPTION.)

Disclosed is a mixture containing polymerizable compounds having Formulas (III) and (IV) wherein Ar.sup.1 and Ar.sup.2 are divalent aromatic hydrocarbon or heteroaromatic ring group having D1 or D2 as a substituent; D.sup.1 and D.sup.2 are C1-C20 organic group having at least one aromatic ring selected from the group consisting of aromatic hydrocarbon ring and heteroaromatic ring; A.sup.11-A.sup.22 and B.sup.11-B.sup.22 are alicyclic or aromatic group which may have a substituent, Y.sup.11-Y.sup.22 and L.sup.11-L.sup.22 are single bond, —O—, —CO—, —C0—O—, —O—CO—, —NR.sup.21—CO—, —CO—NR.sup.22—, —O—CO—O—, —NR.sup.23—CO—O—, —O—CO—NR.sup.24— or —NR.sup.25—CO—NR.sup.26— where R.sup.21-R.sup.26 are hydrogen or C1-C6 alkyl group; R.sup.4-R.sup.9 are hydrogen, methyl group or chlorine; one of f and k is integer of 1 to 3 with the other being integer of 0 to 3; g, j, m and q are integer of 1 to 20; and h, i, n and p are 0 or 1.

##STR00001## ##STR00002##

Provided is a laminate, which has a polarizer and an optically anisotropic layer and is excellent in thermal durability, and an organic electroluminescent device and a liquid crystal display device, which include the laminate. The laminate has two substrates and a polarizing plate disposed between the two substrates, in which the polarizing plate has a polarizer and an optically anisotropic layer, the polarizer contains a polyvinyl alcohol-based resin, the optically anisotropic layer is formed of a composition containing a polymerizable liquid crystal compound represented by General Formula (I): L.sub.1-G.sub.1-D.sub.1-Ar-D.sub.2-G.sub.2-L.sub.2, a moisture permeability of the substrate is 10.sup.−3 g/m.sup.2.Math.day or less, and a water content of the polarizing plate is 3.0 g/m.sup.2 or less.

Provided is a manufacturing method for an optically anisotropic film in which a tilt angle of a liquid crystal compound is controlled to be constant in a thickness direction. The method includes, in the following order, steps of applying a photo-alignment composition onto a base material to form a photo-alignment composition layer, irradiating a surface of the photo-alignment composition layer with a non-polarized and collimated ultraviolet ray in an oblique direction, applying the liquid crystal composition onto the photo-alignment composition layer irradiated with the ultraviolet ray to form a liquid crystal composition layer, a applying a magnetic field to the liquid crystal composition layer along a direction substantially parallel to an irradiation direction of the ultraviolet ray in irradiating step at a temperature at which the liquid crystal composition in the liquid crystal composition layer exhibits an alignment state, and curing the liquid crystal composition layer.

A liquid crystal composition is provided containing a polymerizable liquid crystal compound, the composition having high preservation stability when dissolved in a solvent and also having the ability to restrain the development of orientation defects of the liquid crystal compound. A method of producing such a liquid crystal composition is also provided with ease. The liquid crystal composition includes a first polymerizable liquid crystal compound having five or more ring structures on its principal chain and represented by the following formula (A) and a second polymerizable liquid crystal compound having five or more ring structures and represented by the following formula (B).

##STR00001##

Disclosed herein is a light emitting device and method of manufacturing such a device comprised of a series of photopolymerizable, chiral liquid crystalline layers that can be solvent cast on a substrate. The mixture of chiral materials in each successive layer may be blended in such a way that each layer has the same chiral pitch. Further the chiral materials in each layer may also be blended so that the ordinary and extraordinary refractive indices in each layer match the other layers such that the complete assembly of layers will optically function as a single relatively thick layer of chiral liquid crystal. The chiral nematic material in each layer can spontaneously adopt a helical structure with a helical pitch. The light emitting layers of the light emitting device can further comprise electroluminescent material that emits light into the band edge light propagation modes of the photonic crystal.

A laminate including a vertically oriented liquid crystal cured film and a horizontally oriented phase difference film is provided. The vertically oriented liquid crystal cured film is a cured product of a polymerizable liquid crystal composition containing a polymerizable liquid crystal compound and a dichroic coloring matter. The composition includes, as the dichroic coloring matter, at least one type of dichroic coloring matter having maximum absorption between a wavelength of 400 nm and a wavelength of 750 nm. The vertically oriented liquid crystal cured film is a cured product of the polymerizable liquid crystal composition that is cured in a state in which the polymerizable liquid crystal compound is oriented in a vertical direction with respect to a flat plane of the liquid crystal cured film, and satisfies the following formula (1) and the following formula (2):

0.001≤AxC≤0.3   (1);

AxC(z=60)/AxC>2   (2).

Disclosed is a mixture containing polymerizable compounds having Formulas (III) and (IV) wherein Ar.sup.1 and Ar.sup.2 are divalent aromatic hydrocarbon or heteroaromatic ring group having D1 or D2 as a substituent; D.sup.1 and D.sup.2 are C1-C20 organic group having at least one aromatic ring selected from the group consisting of aromatic hydrocarbon ring and heteroaromatic ring; A.sup.11-A.sup.22 and B.sup.11-B.sup.22 are alicyclic or aromatic group which may have a substituent, Y.sup.11-Y.sup.22 and L.sup.11-L.sup.22 are single bond, —O—, —CO—, —CO—O—, —O—CO—, —NR.sup.21—CO—, —CO—NR.sup.22—, —O—CO—O—, —NR.sup.23—CO—O—, —O—CO—NR.sup.24— or —NR.sup.25—CO—NR.sup.26— where R.sup.21—R.sup.26 are hydrogen or C1-C6 alkyl group; R.sup.4—R.sup.9 are hydrogen, methyl group or chlorine; one of f and k is integer of 1 to 3 with the other being integer of 0 to 3; g, j, m and q are integer of 1 to 20; and h, i, n and p are 0 or 1. ##STR00001##