Synthesis and biological evaluation of 18F-labelled dopamine D3 receptor selective ligands

•Three novel 18F-labelled phenylpiperazine-like radioligands were synthesized as potential novel PET probes for D3R imaging.•A simple, rapid and efficient 18F-labelling method was developed.•Radioligand [18F]8b could quickly penetrate the blood-brain barrier and showed high affinity and selectivity to the dopamine D3 receptor.•Radioligand [18F]8b showed its good in vivo stability with negligible defluorination.