The prospects of using various methods of synthesis for producing extra-pure complex oxides of alkali and bivalent elements with rare elements of groups IV and V of precisely prescribed chemical and granulometric compositions are analyzed. It is demonstrated that only the sol-gel method with inorganic precursors yields nanosize powders of narrow granulometric classes. Epitaxial coatings based on complex oxides can be synthesized by the sol-gel method using organic precursors or true solutions of reactant components.Tantalates and niobates of alkali elements, titanates and zirconates of magnesium, strontium, barium, and lead, as well as solid solutions based on them possess ferroelectric and nonlinear-optical properties and can be used in the form of monocrystals, ceramics, micro-and nanosize powders, or thin films. The purpose of our study is the comparative evaluation of methods for synthesizing such compounds.The most common is the sintering method when initial components are mixed, the mixture is charged into cuvettes and subjected to heat treatment. Depending on the composition of the product synthesized and the choice of initial components, heat treatment is performed at a temperature of 900 -1300°C. The process depends on the diffusion of the low-melting component into the grains of the component with the higher-melting temperature. At early stages, compounds with the maximum absolute variation in Gibbs' energy are formed [1]. They have a higher melting or decomposition temperature than other compounds present in the system. If an intermediate phase emerges in synthesis, whose melting temperature is higher than the melting temperature of the initial components, it acts as a barrier determining the process kinetics.As a rule, a series of intermediate compounds are formed. For instance, in the synthesis of Pb(NbO 3 ) 2 by sintering Nb 2 O 5 and PbO [2], initially a multiphase layer is formed on the surface of Nb 2 O 5 particles, which contains 3PbO × Nb 2 O 5 , the solid solution 5PbO × 2Nb 2 O 5 -2PbO × Nb 2 O 5 , and 3PbO × 2Nb 2 O 5 ; in doing so, PbO is fully consumed. The phases PbO × Nb 2 O 5 and PbO × 2Nb 2 O 5 have not been registered in the reaction product layer, which contradicts the common assumption that all phase existent in a system should be formed sequentially. At the second stage, 3PbO × Nb 2 O 5 is consumed and the layer of the solid solution 5PbO × 2Nb 2 O 5 -2PbO × Nb 2 O 5 increases significantly. At the third stage, PbO is removed from the solid solution, reaching the ultimate composition of 2PbO × Nb 2 O 5 . Next, a lead metaniobate layer emerges and slowly grows, whereas the thickness of the layer 3PbO × 2Nb 2 O 5 increases sharply due to the transformation of 2PbO × Nb 2 O 5 into the specified phase. When 2PbO × Nb 2 O 5 nearly disappears, the lead metaniobate layer is just a few nanometers thick and the reaction product is mainly represented by the phase 3PbO × 2Nb 2 O 5 . Finally, the layer Pb(NbO 3 ) 2 formed in the reaction of 3PbO × 2Nb 2 O 5 with Nb 2 O 5 becomes expanded.The e...