Identify the end-product [D] formed when solution salicylate undergoes the following series of reactions

Step-by-step solution

The starting material (A) is sodium salicylate. Treatment with NaOH/CaO/Heat is a decarboxylation reaction (soda-lime decarboxylation), which removes the -COONa group and replaces it with a hydrogen atom. Subsequent treatment with HCl(aq) protonates the phenoxide ion to form phenol. Thus, (B) is phenol. The reaction of phenol with NaOH(aq) converts it back to sodium phenoxide, which is also labeled as (B) in the reaction scheme. This is a nucleophilic species. The final step involves the reaction of sodium phenoxid