Five 125I-labeled substituted benzamides, which are close structural analogues of (S)-sulpiride, eticlopride, and isoremoxipride, were evaluated for their selective in vivo uptake into dopamine D2 receptor rich tissue of the rat brain. "Iodopride" (KD 0.88 nM), an iodine substituted benzamide structurally related to sulpiride, displayed a maximal striatum: cerebellar uptake ratio of 7.6. Demonstration of saturation of the receptor with [125I]iodopride in striatum required uptake in frontal cortex to be used, rather than cerebellar uptake, to define nonspecific binding. Two other ligands structurally related to eticlopride, "iclopride" (KD 0.23 nM) and "itopride" (KD 0.16 nM), displayed maximal striatal: cerebellar uptake ratios of 9.8 and 3.3, respectively. The most potent ligands, "epidepride" (KD 0.057 nM) and "ioxipride" (KD 0.070 nM) showed striatal:cerebellar uptake ratios of 234 and 65, respectively. The observed uptake ratios correlated poorly with the affinity constants for the dopamine D2 receptor alone, but were highly correlated (r = 0.92) with the product of the receptor dissociation constant (KD) and the apparent lipophilicity (kw), as determined by reverse-phase HPLC at pH 7.5. Total striatal uptake also appeared dependent on lipophilicity, with maximal uptake occurring for ligands having log kw 2.4-2.8.