This paper presents a predictive variable structure control method for the control and synchronization of chaotic nonlinear dynamic systems based on a unified frame for both the control and the synchronization. Two controllers are designed. One is the predictive controller for nominal model, and the other is a variable structure controller for system perturbation. The tracking control of reference signal is realized, and the method has the merit of robustness of variable structure control. The effectiveness of the proposed method are proved by numerical simulations.