RDX

RDX, an initialism for Research Department explosive, is an explosive nitroamine widely used in military and industrial applications. It was developed as an explosive which was more powerful than TNT, and it saw wide use in World War II. RDX is also known as Research Department Formula X,cyclonite, hexogen (particularly in German and German-influenced languages), and T4. Its chemical name is cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine; name variants include cyclotrimethylene-trinitramine and cyclotrimethylene trinitramine.

In its pure, synthesized state RDX is a white, crystalline solid. It is often used in mixtures with other explosives and plasticizers, phlegmatizers or desensitizers. RDX is stable in storage and is considered one of the most powerful and brisant of the military high explosives.

Name

RDX is also known, but less commonly, as cyclonite, hexogen (particularly in Russian, German and German-influenced languages), T4 and chemically as cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine. Tenney L Davis, writing in the US in 1943, stated it was generally known in the US as cyclonite; the Germans called it Hexogen, the Italians T4. In the 1930s, the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, started investigating cyclonite as an explosive to use against German U-boats that were being built with thicker hulls. Britain wanted an explosive that was more powerful than TNT. For security reasons, Britain termed Cyclonite as "Research Department Explosive" (R.D.X.). The term RDX appeared in the United States in 1946, but the name RDX is given without explanation. The first public reference in the United Kingdom to the name RDX, or R.D.X. to use the official title, appeared in 1948; its authors were the Managing Chemist, ROF Bridgwater, the Chemical Research and Development Department, Woolwich, and the Director of Royal Ordnance Factories, Explosives; again, it was referred to as simply RDX.

Radixin

Radixin is a protein that in humans is encoded by the RDX gene.

Radixin is a cytoskeletal protein that may be important in linking actin to the plasma membrane. It is highly similar in sequence to both ezrin and moesin. The radixin gene has been localized by fluorescence in situ hybridization to 11q23. A truncated version representing a pseudogene (RDXP2) was assigned to Xp21.3. Another pseudogene that seemed to lack introns (RDXP1) was mapped to 11p by Southern and PCR analyses.

Interactions

Radixin has been shown to interact with GNA13.

See also

References

Further reading

RDX (disambiguation)

RDX is an explosive.

RDX may also refer to: