  We propose a systematic coarse-grained representation of block copolymers,
whereby each block is reduced to a single ``soft blob'' and effective intra- as
well as intermolecular interactions act between centres of mass of the blocks.
The coarse-graining approach is applied to simple athermal lattice models of
symmetric AB diblock copolymers, in particular to a Widom-Rowlinson-like model
where blocks of the same species behave as ideal polymers (i.e. freely
interpenetrate), while blocks of opposite species are mutually avoiding walks.
This incompatibility drives microphase separation for copolymer solutions in
the semi-dilute regime. An appropriate, consistent inversion procedure is used
to extract effective inter- and intramolecular potentials from Monte Carlo
results for the pair distribution functions of the block centres of mass in the
infinite dilution limit.

Soft Condensed Matter