State estimation techniques are used for improving the quality of measured signals and for reconstructing unmeasured quantities. In chemical reaction systems, nonlinear estimators are often used to improve the quality of estimated concentrations. These nonlinear estimators, which include the extended Kalman filter, the receding-horizon nonlinear Kalman filter and the moving-horizon estimator, use a state-space representation in terms of concentrations. An alternative to the representation of chemical reaction systems in terms of concentrations consists in representing these systems in terms of extents. This paper formulates the state estimation problem in terms of extents, which allows imposing additional shape constraints on the sign, monotonicity and concavity/convexity properties of extents. The addition of shape constraints often leads to significantly improved state estimates. A simulated example illustrates the formulation of the state estimation problem in terms of concentrations and extents, and the use of shape constraints. (C) 2016, IFAC (International Federation of Antomatic Control) Hosting by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.