Convert String to Binary when secape characters are involved

Hi guys,

I want to scramble the following either by converting it to binary and then performing a bit-wise operation on it or by using some sort of string scramble/de-scramble function. The only prob is it has escape characters and numbers in it:

subvalÆÆÆÆ600720ÆÆ40340360ÆÆ

Can anyone suggest what to do?
I can’t use hash functions in this case because I am not comparing paswords, I am merging data from the db with data sent in an email. I used the escape characters as a method of exploding the string for later use.

thanks