  Potassium-doped terphenyl has recently attracted attention as a potential
host for high-transition-temperature superconductivity. Here, we elucidate the
many-body electronic structure of recently synthesized potassium-doped
terphenyl crystals. We show that this system may be understood as a set of
weakly coupled one-dimensional ladders. Depending on the strength of the
inter-ladder coupling the system may exhibit spin-gapped valence-bond solid or
antiferromagnetic phases, both of which upon hole doping may give rise to
superconductivity. This terphenyl-based ladder material serves as a new
platform for investigating the fate of ladder phases in presence of
three-dimensional coupling as well as for novel superconductivity.
