According to the Hammond postulate, in a strongly exothermic step the transition state

Aresembles the products (late transition state)
Bresembles an intermediate of higher energy than the products
Cis independent of the reactants and the products
Dresembles the reactants in energy and structure (early transition state)

Answer: D

The transition state of a step resembles the nearer species in energy. In a strongly exothermic step the products lie far below, so the peak is close to the reactants. The transition state is early.

Practice General Organic Chemistry III: Reaction Intermediates More on Reaction energy profiles, kinetic vs thermodynamic control

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