Oxidotellurates are known to have a very rich and diverse crystal chemistry. This can be attributed to the different possible coordination polyhedra, which tellurium oxidocompounds can exhibit. Oxidotellurates(IV) usually have their Te atoms coordinated by three, four or five oxygen atoms in a one-sided coordination due to the stereoactivity of the non-bonding 5s2 electron pair of TeIV. In oxidotellurates(VI), where no such lone pair is present, octahedral coordination is the predominant case. New transition metal oxidotellurates(IV) are promising candidates in the search for new ferro-, pyro- and piezoelectrics, second harmonic generators, or, for selected metal cations, enticing magnetic properties. The low-symmetric and polar oxidotellurate(IV) group is a well-suited building block, as compounds exhibiting the previously mentioned properties, besides magnetics, need to be polar and therefore have to lack inversion symmetry.While numerous ternary transition metal oxidotellurate phases have been discovered and characterized over the past decades, the area of quaternary or even more complicated compounds is much less explored. Therefore, the aim of this work was to modify transition metal oxidotellurates by incorporation of secondary ions, ideally ones with a considerably different crystal chemistry. In this thesis, three main paths were followed: the modification of oxidotellurates(IV) by foreign oxido anions, of oxidotellurates(IV) by alkali metal cations and of oxidotellurates(VI) by alkali metal cations.For the incorporation of foreign anions into transition metal oxidotellurates(IV), the hydrothermal method proved to be the most reliable one. By this means, the anions nitrate (Cd5(TeO3)4(NO3)2, Cd4Te4O11(NO3)2 and Pb3Te2O6(NO3)2), arsenate (Zn2(HTeO3)(AsO4)), oxidotellurate(VI) (Cu2Te4O12(NH3)(H2O)2), phosphate (Ni3Te2O2(PO4)2(OH)4), hydroxide (Mn3(TeO3)2(OH)2, Mn15(TeO3)14(OH)2, Co2(TeO3)(OH)2 and Co15(TeO3)14(OH)2), carbonate (Rb2Zn(TeO3)(CO3)(H2O)) and tungstate (Cd3(WO4)(TeO3)2 and (NH4)2W3O9(TeO3)) were introduced to form novel oxidotellurate(IV) phases. For the channel structure of Mn3(TeO3)2(OH)2 and its isotypic literature phases Co3(TeO3)2(OH)2 and Ni3(TeO3)2(OH)2, it was shown that various other foreign anions (Cl−, Br−, NO3−, SO42− and CO32−) can partially substitute the hydroxide anions inside the channels.In order to include alkali metal cations into transition metal oxidotellurates(IV), a modification of the hydrothermal method was found to be most successful. In the reactions between metal oxides, TeO2 and alkali carbonates A2CO3, a reduction of the water content from several milliliters to only three droplets, corresponding to ca. 0.1 g, led to the discovery of numerous phases with new crystal structures. Eleven of the newfound phases (Na1.79Mg0.11[Mg2(TeO3)3](H2O)3.86, Na2[Ni2(TeO3)3](H2O)2.5, Na2[Cu2(TeO3)3](H2O)1.5, K2[Co2(TeO3)3](H2O)2.5, K2[Ni2(TeO3)3](H2O), K2[Cu2(TeO3)3](H2O)2, K2[Zn2(TeO3)3](H2O)2, Rb1.25[Co2(TeO3)3](H2O)1.5, Rb1.5[Mn2(TeO3)3](H2O)1.25, Rb1.24[Mn2(TeO3)3](H2O)2 and Cs[Mn2(TeO3)3](H2O)) crystallize in the zemannite structure type, which consists of a hexagonal framework perforated by large channels, where the alkali metal cations and the crystal water molecules are situated. Of the other phases with new crystal structures, Li2Cu2Te3O9 and Li2Cu3Te4O12 (A = Li), Na2Zn2Te4O11 and Na2Cu3Te4O12 (A = Na), K2Mn2(TeO3)3, K2Cd2(TeO3)3, K2Cu3Te4O12, K2Cu3Te6O16, K2Cu2Te4O11(H2O)2 and K4Sn3Te8O24 (A = K), Rb2Cu3Te6O16 and Rb2Zn(TeO3)(CO3)(H2O) (A = Rb) and Cs2Cu3Te6O16 (A = Cs), many have modular structures formed by rods or layers. Several of these modular structures are heavily disordered, which can be noticed from the presence of diffuse scattering in the diffraction pattern and from disordered atomic positions. In order to explain the diffuse scattering, for several phases the OD theory was applied, and in some cases the diffuse scattering was simulated and qualitatively compared to the diffraction patterns.Synthesis of alkali-modified oxidotellurates(VI) was, similarly to oxidotellurates(IV), most successful when reducing the water content for the hydrothermal set-up. Here, mixtures of metal oxides, H6TeO6 and AOH with a complete omission of additional water, were the most effective. Small amounts of water are formed during the reaction from H6TeO6 and the introduced hydroxide and function as a mineralizer. The majority of the newly discovered phases are potassium-modified oxidotellurate(VI) species with the Na-based Na3Te2(FeO4)3 and Na3FeTe2O9, and RbPb3Te2O9(OH) as the only non-K-representatives. Most of the new phases in the K−Cu−TeVI−O-system (K2Cu2TeO6, K2Cu2TeO6(H2O), K2Cu2TeO6(H2O)4, K3Cu2TeO5(OH)(CO3)(H2O), α- and β-KCuTeO4(OH) and K4CuTe4O14(OH)2) have layered crystal structures, while the others consist of isolated [Cu−Te−O] units (K10Cu2Te3O16 and K5CuTe2O8(OH)4(H2O)8), [Cu−Te−O] chains (K3CuTeO5(OH)(H2O)) or a tri-periodic [Cu−Te−O] framework (K6Cu9Te4O24(H2O)2). The other phases include MnIII (K4Mn2Te3O12(OH)4), FeIII (K12Fe6Te4O27(H2O)3 and K3FeTe2O8(OH)2(H2O)), PbII (KPb2TeO5(OH), K2Pb3TeO7 and K14PbIVPbII9Te7O36(OH)6(H2O)6) or BiIII (K6Bi4Te3O17(CO3)(H2O)3) as their framework metal cations.Besides these three main fields, the crystal structures of several ternary M−TeIV−O-phases were determined as well. While the phases α-MnTeO3 and Mn6Te5O16 have been described previously in literature without solution of their crystal structures, the compounds γ-MnTeO3, β-CdTe2O5 and Cd4Te5O14 were synthesized and characterized for the first time. While the main analysis methods of this work have been diffraction methods (powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction), several complementary analytical techniques have been applied for selected phases as well. They include energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy conducted in a scanning electron microscope, infrared- and Raman-spectroscopy, thermogravimetry, differential scanning calorimetry and the determination of magnetic properties.