Organic electroluminescent element material, organic electroluminescent element, light-emitting thin film, display device and illumination device

The present invention addresses the problem of providing a novel organic EL element with improved light emission efficiency. The invention also addresses the problem of providing an organic EL element material for use in said organic EL element, a light-emitting thin film containing said organic EL element material, and a display device and illumination device provided with said organic EL element. The organic EL element of the present invention is an organic EL element having at least one light-emitting layer between an anode and a cathode, characterized in that the at least one light-emitting layer contains a π-conjugated compound having a structure represented by general formula (1), the π-conjugated compound being such that, in each of a ground state, a lowest excited singlet state and a lowest excited triplet state, an angle θ formed between the plane of a cyclic structure A bonded to a nitrogen atom and the plane of a cyclic structure comprising a nitrogen atom, carbon atoms and X is in the range of 45 to 90 degrees.