htmlspecialchars... or...?

Hi all... I've having problems submitting information to salesforce.com... I have a system set up that allows my users here in the office, to send individual leads, to salesforce... However, if the users details contain characters such as... Ù ë ý Ñ Ã etc... htmlspecialchars only does & " < > (From what I understand...) Does anyone know how to turn the other characters into a format, I can submit to salesforce, without it being rejected... (the problem, in a little more detail... I have about 15 fields I'm submitting... It processes the first on, then the second etc. but as soon as it hits a field with the characters mentions above, it simply sends blank data to salesforce for the remaining fields, so I'm left with a half completed record??? I'm presuming that this fix, will solve it... Once I figure out what this fix is... ;-) ) Tris... ********************************************************************* The information contained in this e-mail message is intended only for the personal and confidential use of the recipient(s) named above. If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient or an agent responsible for delivering it to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that you have received this document in error and that any review, dissemination, distribution, or copying of this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify us immediately by e-mail, and delete the original message. ***********************************************************************