This paper deals with the design of an observer-based nonlinear control for continuous stirred tank reactors (CSTR). A variable structure observer is constructed to estimate the whole process state variables. This observer is basically the conventional Luenberger observer with an additional switching term used to guarantee the robustness against modeling errors. The observer is coupled with a nonlinear controller, designed based on input-output linearization for controlling the reactor temperature. The asymptotical stability of the closed-loop system is shown by the Lyapunov stability theorem. Finally, computer simulations are developed for showing the performance of the proposed approach.