The butyrophenone neuroleptics spiroperidol, benperidol, and haloperidol were radiolabeled with fluorine-18 and studied in baboon brain using positron emission transaxial tomography (PETT). Pretreatment of the baboon with a high pharmacological dose of (+)-butaclamol reduced the specifically bound component of radioactivity distribution in the striatum to approximately the radioactivity distribution found in the cerebellum. Comparative studies of brain distribution kinetics over a 4-h period indicated that either [18F]spiroperidol or [18F]benperidol may be suitable for specific labeling of neuroleptic receptors. In an 8-h study with [18F]spiroperidol, striatal radioactivity did not decline, suggesting that spiroperidol either has a very slow dissociation rate or that it binds irreversibly to these receptors in vivo. [18F]Haloperidol may not be suitable for in vivo PETT studies, because of a relatively high component of nonspecific distribution and a faster dissociation from the receptor. Analysis of 18F in plasma after injection of [18F]spiroperidol indicated rapid metabolism to polar and acidic metabolites, with only 40% of the total radioactivity being present as unchanged drug after 30 min. Analysis of the metabolic stability of the radioactively labeled compound in rat striatum indicated that greater than 95% of [18F]spiroperidol remains unchanged after 4 h.