The model reference adaptive control problem is investigated for a class of large-scale systems with time-varying delays. The considered systems have mismatched delay functions and matched interconnections. Firstly, a state coordinate transformation is employed to convert the original error system into a cascade system. Secondly, a delay-dependent virtual linear state feedback controller is developed to stabilize the first subsystem. Based on the virtual controller, a memoryless state feedback controller is constructed for the second subsystem. By choosing new Lyapunov Krasovskii functional, we show that the designed decentralized continuous adaptive controller renders that the solutions of the closed-loop system converge exponentially to a bounded region. Finally, the theoretic achievements are applied to the control design of a chemical reactor system with two subsystems. The control results show the effectiveness of the proposed method. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.