The invention is to provide
liquid crystalline compounds having a negative and extremely large
dielectric anisotropy value and a small
optical anisotropy value at the same time;
liquid crystal compositions comprising the compound; and
liquid crystal display devices fabricated by using the
liquid crystal composition; the
liquid crystalline compounds have 2,3-dihalogenophenylene
moiety and are expressed by formula (1)wherein Ra and Rb each independently represents a linear or branched
alkyl having 1 to 10 carbon, any
methylene in the
alkyl may be replaced by -O-, -S-, -CH=CH-, or -C=C-, but -O- is not successive, and any
hydrogen in the
alkyl may be replaced by
halogen; rings A1 to A4 each independently represents trans-1,4-cyclohexylene,
cyclohexene-1,4-diyl,
pyridine-1,4-diyl,
pyrimidine-2,5-diyl, or 1,4-
phenylene, wherein at least one
hydrogen in these rings may be replaced by
halogen, and any nonadjacent
methylene in
cyclohexane ring may be replaced by -O-; Y1 and Y2 each independently represents F or Cl; Z1, Z2 and Z3 each independently represents a
single bond, -CH2CH2-, -(CH2)4-, -COO-, -OCO-, -CH2O-, -OCH2-, -CF2O-, or -OCF2-; and l, m and n each independently is 0, 1 or 2, and the sum of l+m+n is 3 and less.