Alicyclic polyimides (PIs) were prepared from 3-carboxylmethyl-cyclopentane-1,2,4-tricarboxylic acid dianhydride and alpha, omega -di(4-aminophenoxyl)alkanes. These PIs possessed good solubility in aprotic, strongly polar solvents such as N-methyl-2pyrrolidone, N,N-dimethylacetamide, N,N-dimethyl formamide, and m-cresol. They possessed high transparency in visible wavelengths and were almost colorless. The pretilt angle of a liquid-crystal display with these PIs as the alignment layer increased linearly as the length of the alkyloxy groups increased; it was close to 5 degrees for the PI samples PI-10 and PI-12.