The paper addresses the problem of controlling and synchronizing chaos using the minimal control synthesis algorithm (Stoten and Benchoubane 1990b). After unifying the synchronization and control problems within the same theoretical framework, the scope of the original MCS algorithm is extended, firstly by removing the assumption that both the plant and the reference model are in phase-canonical form, and secondly by including the case of vanishing nonlinear disturbances acting on the system. Finally, the application to two common chaotic systems, the control of a Duffing oscillator and the synchronization of two Chua circuits is investigated.