Radiofluorination of oxazole-carboxamides for preclinical PET neuroimaging of GSK-3

•Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3) is an enzyme that is dysregulated in cancer and brain health illnesses.•No suitable fluorine-18 labeled GSK-3 radiotracer for positron emission tomography (PET) exists.•Two oxazole-4-carboxamides were labeled with [18F]fluoride.•Radiotracers were evaluated in rodents and in non-human primate showing good brain uptake.•[18F]OCM-49 and [18F]OCM-50 are promising tracers for imaging of GSK-3 in the brain.