Studies of the crystal chemistry of nonsuperconducting PrBa2Cu3O7 indi
cate that t is compound is strictly isostructural with its superconduc
ting RBa2Cu3O7 (R = Y, rare earth) analogs. Crystallographically, Pr i
s present in the trivalent state according to the structural trends ex
hibited by the RBa2Cu3O7 series as a function of R3+ ionic radius. The
sole structural anomaly attributable to the presence of Pr3+ in the Y
Ba2Cu3O7 structure is a next-next-nearest neighbor effect and consists
of an unusually short axial Cu-O distance, i.e., a short bond length
between the in-plane copper and the chain oxygen. The correlation of t
his anomaly with the nonmetallic/nonsuperconducting properties of PrBa
2Cu3O7 supports a variety of literature reports, both theoretical and
experimental, suggesting that the apical oxygen in the YBa2Cu3O7 struc
ture plays a critical role in mediating the appearance of superconduct
ivity. The mechanism by which the f-electrons in Pr3+ (f2) interact wi
th the Cu-O manifold to produce the nonmetallic behavior of PrBa2Cu3O7
remains unknown; however, superconductivity is ''turned back on'' for
Nd3+ (f3), immediately next to Pr and just slightly smaller. Careful
comparative studies of superconducting NdBa2Cu3O7 and nonmetallic PrBa
2Cu3O7 are needed to elucidate the critical difference in the behavior
of the f-electrons and may shed light on the fundamental mechanism of
high-temperature superconductivity in copper oxides.