A method is described for determining the specificity of quenching of pyrene singlets by a tertiary alkylamine, 5a-cholestan-3P-yldimethylamine (CA), in a nonpolar cholesteric liquid crystalline solvent [59.5/ 15.6/24.9 (w/w/w) cholesteryl oleate/cholesteryl nonanoate/cholesteryl chloride]. It is found that the pyrene-amine orientation for quenching resembles closely the probable exciplex geometry. Activation parameters for the quenching process are phase dependent: from Stern-Volmer derived quenching rate constants at low CA concentrations, the Arrhenius activation energies and preexponential factors in the cholesteric phase are calculated to be E6 = 9.9 i= 0.2 kcal mol-' and A6 = (2.1 i= 1.3) X loi4 M-' s-'; the isotropic phase has E6 = 5.3 f 0.1 kcal mol-' and A6 = (1.8 f 0.4) X 10" M-' 8. The value of E6(cholesteric) is found to change with CA concentration, approaching E,(isotropic) at high CA. A cohesive explanation of these and other results, including the previously reported photodimerization of acenaphthylene in a different cholesteric phase, is advanced.